


She's Mine To Protect

by Angelmarya24



Series: A Baker's Flower [1]
Category: Lucas Baker - Fandom, Resident Evil 7 - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Fights with Parents, Kind of angsty, Teen Romance, kisses in a cave, then adult romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-18 10:53:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11872851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelmarya24/pseuds/Angelmarya24
Summary: Chrys was the only person Lucas Baker ever really loved. She was a beautiful, fun-loving and  talented girl who everyone around her couldn't believe it wasn't until Lucas came along that she got a boyfriend. She's had her fair share of struggles: raising a three-year-old at the age of eighteen, dealing with an overprotective father that only recently came into her life and trying to graduate high school. All Lucas wants is to help but it's hard when the two if them live a state apart from each other; but nothing could ever stop him from protecting her when she needed him.Except when Lucas is suddenly torn out of her life due to a "problem back home"; she spends the following years meeting other men, getting married, having children but never really getting over him. Chrys eventually learns that sometimes you should forget those that left you, but to hold onto the ones you can't live without...





	1. The Fight

July 2013  
  "Is he yours?" Jack Baker asked his son Lucas for the fifth time that evening. They stood there looking in on a small three-year-old with dusty brown hair who Lucas couldn't deny resembled himself in a way. They had the same nose, ears and eyes but all the tests turned out negative; there was no way it was his son. The kid was the result of his mother being kidnapped a little over three years ago, a story that still would almost bring tears to Lucas' eyes; it killed him that he hadn't been there to protect her.  
  The boy sat in front of the TV playing with some of Lucas' old action figures while facing his mother, Lucas' girlfriend, who was sitting on the old couch and looking at her phone. Lucas stood in the dining room with his father, partly regretting having given into his mother's nagging to invite the two over for dinner.  
   "No," he growled in nothing more than a whisper "as much as I wish he was, Toby ain't mine."  
   "He sure looks a hell of a lot like you." Zoe, the second Baker child, chimed in from washing the dishes in the kitchen in a voice too loud for Lucas' comfort.  
   He mumbled something along the lines of "shut up" and then made his way over to the couch to sit beside his girl. She lifted her head up from staring at her phone to receive a kiss on the cheek from him but then immediately returned to whatever she had been reading. He snickered at her dedication to the phone, reached over and yanked up the hood of the hoodie she was wearing, which actually was his own prized and favourite hoodie. Lucas had a feeling he wouldn't be getting it back any time soon.  
   He scooted a little closer to the girl to put a hugging arm around her shoulders, attempting to cuddle without tearing her away from her precious screen. He still couldn't believe he had this beautiful girl to call his. Miss Chrysanthemum Richards; light brown waves rested on her shoulders and very little make-up besides some mascara which she claimed opened up her eyes. Although, of course, she didn't need it; to Lucas, she was perfect.  
   "Lucas?"  
   "Yeah?"  
   "You're staring at me again."  
   "You're just that beautiful."  
   "Shut up."  
   And then they'd laugh like they did every time they had that same exchange.

   The storm had hit at about five-thirty, the rain pounding on the windows. The raging weather had come out of nowhere and didn't appear to be leaving any time soon. The Bakers sat at the dining room table along with their two guests as they ate their meal and listened to the rain in an awkward silence. Chrys sat beside Lucas who had Toby sitting on his lap due to a lack of chairs; he didn't mind though, he loved Toby as if he was his own son and Toby would have no problem with having Lucas as a dad. In fact, he had been known to ask Lucas in the past if he would one day be his daddy; Lucas, of course, didn’t have an answer.  
   Throughout dinner Chrys would look out the window in worry, making Lucas uneasy as well. While the two of them cherished the few moments they rarely had in each other's physical company, they also both knew it might not end well if Chrys and Toby had to stay the night at the Baker's. They had hid their relationship from both sets of parents for a few years until only two months before when Zoe caught the two of them doing a video chat and then proceeded to release the information over dinner that night. It was then that their mother implored him to invite Chrys over for supper.   
   After the silence had finally been broken, the conversation during the meal was kept up mostly by Jack and his wife Marguerite with a little help from Zoe and Toby but not a word from Lucas or Chrys. Eventually Marguerite, being the mother that she was, put out the suggestion that the teenage couple didn't want to hear.  
   "Chrys honey, you two should stay here for the night, it's too dangerous to be driving in this weather. You could borrow some pyjamas from Zoe and I'm sure we could find some of Lucas' old ones for Toby to wear."  
   "Yay! Sleepover!" Toby cheered, throwing his fists up and almost punching Lucas in the face. Chrys and Lucas exchanged looks of worry.  
   "Look, I really appreciate the offer but we really should be going home. Ya know, to sleep in our own beds." Chrys said as polite as she could.  
   "Don't be ridiculous," Jack replied “it’s more than an hour’s drive home for you and as someone who just recently got her license, you should be staying put. That rain ain't gonna do nothing but pour harder an' you don't wanna get stuck in it."  
   And when Jack laid down the rules there was no arguing with him.  
   Chrys sighed. "Okay, I guess it wouldn't hurt to stay." Which got another round of hoorays from Toby.  
   "Good. Then how 'bout Toby sleeps in Lucas' old room and Chrys can have the guest room." Marguerite offered.  
   She was answered by an immediate chorus of loud no's. Chrys, Lucas and Toby all shouted in unison against the idea but Toby's voice rose above the rest.  
   "I ain't gonna sleep without my mama!" He screamed several times before Lucas was able to calm him down by pulling him into a hug and assuring him that they'd work it out and it'd be fine. It didn't stop the crying but he did quiet down somewhat. Lucas knew he had to find an equilibrium between what everyone wanted; or at least for what he, Chrys and Toby wanted.  
   "Chrys and I can sleep together." Lucas announced causing the room to go death quiet. They all stared at him in disbelief, not believing he had the nerve to say what he just did.  
   Jack finally broke the silence.  
   "Like hell you will. You think we could trust you two to sleep together? We don't need another kid like Toby running around here. Now, you're all gonna sleep where your mother puts you and that's final!" He shouted, slamming his fist down on the table to further implement how serious he was, knocking over his glass and spilling water all over the table. Toby started crying again but this time Lucas made no attempt to console him. He needed to settle a score with his father first.  
   "First off, you can't tell us what to do, we're almost adults and we'll sleep wherever we damn well please! And second, fuck you Old Man!"  
   This earned him a slap across the face from his father. Handing Toby over to Chrys, Lucas jumped up to his feet andprepared to full on attack Jack with no mercy. The two closed in on each other, Jack clearly more than capable of beating Lucas to a bloody mess but Lucas wouldn't back down. Especially not in front of his girlfriend.  
   "Enough, stop it!" Marguerite shrieked.  
   "Daddy come on! It ain't worth it." Zoe offered to try to help the situation.  
   "Yeah Lucas! You can take him!" Toby chimed in in an attempt to encourage Lucas, now having stopped crying, but was only shushed by his mother.   
   Chrys remained silent throughout the whole thing. She knew that adding her opinion to the pot would only enrage Jack more. So she just sat there holding her son close to her and praying this would end quickly and with little regret the next morning.  
   Then finally it happened. Lucas let loose the first swing, catching his father's chin and knocking Jack back a step. Jack then wasted no time in giving one back to his son, except his punch landed on Lucas' nose. The force behind the punch was many times stronger than what his son had hit him with, sending Lucas crashing to the wooden floor. Blood began streaming from his nose, covering the bottom half of his face and some of the floor in red.  
   "You son of a bitch." Jack growled and proceeded to kick Lucas in his gut while he was still on the ground.   
   It was with that that Chrys had had enough. With what appeared to be one swift motion, she placed Toby on Lucas' empty chair and raced over to the fight. She knew her best option was to put herself between her boyfriend and his angered father but it was also the most dangerous option. Deciding to act on it, she put herself in between the two men as the older man was preparing another kick. She placed her hands on his biceps and tried to push him away.  
   "Stop it!" She yelled in frustration.  
   "Get out the way, this don't concern you." He snarled before grabbing her by the shoulders and tossing her to the side, causing her body to collide with kitchen table and her head with the chair occupied by Toby. The three who were still sitting at the table could only look on in shock, Toby expressing deep fear for his mother's wellbeing.   
   After a couple more kicks Jack had stopped for a moment to watch how Chrys reacted to the hit she took but when she wasn't getting up he began to worry. He then started looking from the girl to his son repeatedly until the guilt hit him hard. The looks of fear and sadness on the faces of his wife and daughter tore at him until he couldn't take it anymore. After taking one last look at the damage he caused to his son and his guest he darted out of the dining room, heading down the hall to the main hall and then out the back door.


	2. The Bruises

   It was a few hours later when Lucas' little family of his own was settling down for bed. This time there was no argument from anyone when Lucas suggested that Chrys should sleep with him in the attic while Toby slept in the room below in Lucas' old bed. Marguerite had suggested that they sleep in Lucas' actual room but he didn't feel safe knowing he'd be sleeping in a room that his father had easy access to. At least the door to the old kids' room could be locked from the inside, unlike his own. Plus, the attic had always been a special place for Lucas and Chrys in their relationship, it being somewhere they could hide from the watchful eyes of his parents and also somewhere where Lucas was never afraid to show her how much he loved her. Unfortunately none of that was going to happen that night.

 

   A few hours before:

   The initial headache Chrys suffered when she came to had resided, leaving only the pain dwelling in her back to cause her pain. She had stayed knocked out for almost two hours, finally waking up only to have to deal with Toby crying over her. Lucas, on the other hand, was still a mess many hours later. Bruises ran all along his abdomen in a variety of colours and any movement caused him immense pain. To Toby's distress, not even his "healing hugs" helped... they actually only made it worse for Lucas, who let out a low-pitch yelp when the little boy tried to wrap his arms around him.

   The weather outside didn’t do anything to lift everyone’s spirits. Not long after the fight, Zoe had positioned herself at the window to the left of the back door looking out for when Jack might come back in; watching for her father and losing herself in the heavy rain were the only things she could think of that might ease her mind even the slightest bit. Marguerite, after taking care of injuries and making sure everyone was as taken care of as they could be, had shut herself up in the master bedroom hoping to avoid anyone in the house seeing her cry. Lucas, who non-admittedly hated seeing his typically strong mother upset,  was tempted to go upstairs to the room and try to put her at ease but he didn’t know how he’d do it seeing as emotions were never his forte; he’d most likely end up making her feel worse. Instead he chose to make an attempt at distracting Toby from relentlessly checking up on Chrys in the T.V. room and worsening her headache.

   “Hey Tobes, why don’t you and I pull out my old bucket of lego? We could build a castle, a ship, whatever you want.” Lucas offered in hopes that the boy would jump at it. Toby sat on the floor beside his mother with a pondering look on his face as he thought it over.

   “Lego?” He asked, suspicious of the offer yet unable to hide his rising excitement.

   “Yeah, loads of it.”

   The young boy looked at his mother beside him who was now, for the third time that night, unconscious on the couch. It bugged him to see her so unresponsive to him and hoped that the next time she awoke would be the last time for the rest of the night. Toby hesitantly got up from the ground, reached for Lucas’ hand and allowed himself to be led up to the old kids’ room to build Lego structures with Lucas.

   For the better part of an hour Lucas had managed to successfully keep Toby distracted and happy with building various objects. Finally, at around 9 o’clock, Chrys appeared in the doorway, appearing to be a little out of it yet with a happier expression, as if her headache had disappeared. Toby dropped the chipped Lego piece he was holding and ran to give his mother a hug. The impact of his little body was enough to send a bolt of pain through her already aching back but went unnoticed by Toby who was simply happy that his mother was awake and walking again. Lucas, on the other hand, saw her expression of pain and jumped up and rushed over to make sure she was alright. Silently, so that Toby wouldn’t realize the pain he had just caused her, she nodded and mouthed “I’m fine” , but this wasn’t enough to convince her boyfriend. He had always put it upon himself to protect her and to take care of her when she needed it, whether she wanted it or not. 

    "Hey Buddy." She said softly to her son. "Why don't you play with Lucas for a bit more before bed?" Chrys was hoping to distract both Lucas and the simpler minded boy from worrying about her injuries.

    "Are you gonna go sleep again?"

    "Nope, I'll stay right here and watch you have fun."

    "Okay! Lucas and I'll make you the biggest boat! C'mon Lucas!" He squealed and dragged Lucas back over to the center of the room where they had previously been building a Lego replica of Toby and Chrys' house back in Texas. Smiling to herself, Chrys carefully sat herself down on the hard mattress of Lucas' childhood bed and made her best effort to be comfortable as she watched the boys work away at her boat.

   Around 10 PM, Chrys decided it was time for Toby to go to bed, mostly because she herself needed some more rest. Lucas managed to track down a pair of his old pajamas which just barely fit Toby; although they loosely hung on his small body,  they served their purpose. He also got a non-matching shirt and fuzzy bottoms from Zoe for Chrys, which his sister had never worn before. Overjoyed by the comfiness of the clothes, Chrys made a mental note to thank Zoe in the morning; in reality it might have been a small thing, but it felt nice to have even a small amount of comfort while her body screamed in agony. 

    While Chrys got dressed in the room, Lucas took Toby to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Suddenly feeling tired, Toby begged Lucas to carry him back; Lucas had never been good at saying no to the little boy whenever he talked in his sleepy begging voice so Lucas swung the boy up into his room, carried him back to join Chrys and laid him down on the bed. Covering him with blankets, she sang Toby his usual lullaby ("Constant as the Stars Above" from the Barbie Rapunzel movie...he didn't know where it was from, he was only content that it was his mother singing it and it helped him go to sleep) and, along with Lucas, kissed him goodnight and tucked him in before turning out the light. They were making their way over to the ladder that led to the attic when Toby's voice called out.  
   "Mama?" He asked.  
   "You should be trying to sleep bud."  
   "Can I ask a question first?"  
   "Oh alright, what is it?"  
   "Are you okay?" There was a croak in his voice that Chrys knew meant tears were about to come flooding out. She realized she’d need to calm him down quickly before an infamous Toby Tantrum took place.  
   "I'm fine sweety, really I am."  
   "Lucas?"  
   "Yeah bud?"  
   "Are you okay?"  
   "A night's sleep and I'll be good as new."  
   "Why did your daddy hurt you and mommy? I thought daddies were supposed to be nice to you."  
   "Supposed to, yeah, but you don't need to worry none.  Go to sleep now bud, 'kay?"  
   "Okay, good night Lucas. I love you."  
   "Love you too Tobes."  
   "I love you mommy."  
   "I love you too, hun, to the moon and back." She replied, looking to Lucas for a smile to which he delivered like he always did. A sigh escaped from her lips, content that the agonizing day was over and that she could trust her boyfriend to protect both her and her son throughout the night.  
   She knew she could always rely on him.


	3. The Talk

    The couple had settled into their sleeping arrangements for the night; Chrys on the dusty yet surprisingly comfy couch while Lucas laid down on a sleeping pad on the hard floor. Chrys had insisted for him to take to couch but there was no way he'd give in to her pleas. The two of them were cocooned in piles of blankets brought up by his mother who knew they'd be needing all spare ones in the house to fight the nightly cold of the attic.  
    It wasn't long after saying good night to each other that Chrys was completely out cold. Lucas, on the other hand, remained wide awake long past midnight playing over in his mind the fight that ended supper. He typically found it hard to sleep after a day where he and his father fought but this time was different. I need to get out of here, he thought to himself; he glanced over at the girl he loved so much and wondered if they could make it on their own. Sure, it'd mean she'd probably have to quit school and they'd both need to find jobs and-  
    "No.” He whispered aloud to himself. That was ridiculous, he’d never expect Chrys to put a stop on her whole life just so he could avoid his own. No, he’d just let it go and suffer.

    He was about to finally drift off when he heard noises coming from the room below, as if someone was trying to break their way in. Lucas’ heartbeat began racing in fear of it being his father entering the room. While he tried to process his thoughts, the sound of heavy footsteps on the ladder made him freeze. There was no mistaking that this was Jack making his way up into the attic. Quickly, Lucas rolled over to face the couch and away from where Jack’s face would appear, grimacing from the pain he felt in his abdomen. He closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep as he heard his father reach the top of the ladder and poke his head up from the hole in the floor. The heavy breathing from the old man made him feel uneasy.

    “I know you’re awake Lucas. You never sleep on your side.” Jack announced in a calm whisper.

     It was true; his sleeping positions were limited to be on his back or stomach, but it never occurred to him that it was a detail that his normally unobservant father noticed about him.

    “C’mon, I know you’re awake.” He repeated.

    “Go away.” Lucas told him in a growl trying to sound threatening.

    “No, Lucas, I can’t go away. We need to talk.”

    “Can’t you see I’m tryin' t'sleep?”

    “You’re thinking about leaving again.”

    “How’d-” Lucas started but didn’t finish. Jack sighed and sat down on the floor.

    “Cause I’m your father, that’s how. Look, son, I know you won’t accept any apology-”

    “You got that right.”

    “-but you can at least listen to me for a few minutes.”

    Lucas let out an exasperated sigh and slowly turned over to face his father. He felt a pang of guilt and sadness at seeing his father’s appearance. Not only were his wet clothes covered in dirt a shock to see but what hit Lucas the hardest were the evident dried tears on his cheeks. There was even still a watery look to his eyes that made Lucas feel uneasy.

    “Fine, I’m listenin'.” He said in no more than a whisper, bringing a smile to Jack’s face.

    “Lucas, I, uh, I know I can be hard on you sometimes, God knows more than I should, but you have to know that I love you an' I'm so proud of you. You’re a hell of a lot smarter than I could ever be and I don’t think I give you the credit you deserve for everything. I’ll understand if you go, you’re an adult now after all, but I don’t wan' you going off and doing something you’ll regret. You’re my boy, Lucas, my first child; the first thing I’ve ever loved that I wanted to give my everything for. So just- ah shit.” He croaked while wiping away the tears in his eyes, unable to continue on without ending up in a mess.

    Staring at him with concerned eyes, Lucas didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t the type to hug a problem out nor did he think he could manage one with the current state of his body. The two of them stayed there in silence for a few minutes before Jack decided to leave.

    “Well then, I guess I’ll let you get some sleep.” He said as he got to his feet and headed for the ladder. Lucas knew he shouldn’t, or maybe couldn’t, let his father leave without at least saying something to him.

    “Hey dad?” He said. Jack stopped and quickly turned around.

    “Yeah?”

    “Sorry for being an ass all the time an' for the fight.”

    Jack let out a little laugh and smiled at his son.

    “Forget about it. I’ll see in you in the morning.” He said and then left. Lucas watched his father descend the ladder and then listened as he left the room, closing the door as quietly as possible. The teenage boy stayed there staring at the ladder a little while longer before turning to lay on his back and finally managed to fall asleep. The last thing that came to him before slipping into sleep was how he could no longer hear the sound of rain on the roof. All the storms were over.

 

    Despite the reconnect between father and son during the night, the next morning brought nothing but a feeling of awkwardness in the air. Zoe sat across from her father, drinking her bitter coffee and not daring to say a word and possibly start another fight. Besider her, Chrys sat in silence while staring down at her own mug on the table, not wanting to look up at any of the Bakers, not even Lucas. She thought to herself about how she'd never felt this uncomfortable before in her life and how she only wanted to get in her truck and head home.

   It didn't take long for Lucas to feel the unease coming off of her and for his pushed-down anger towards his dad start to resurface.  In an attempt to set his death stare on Jack, he instead locked eyes with his sister whose sad face seemed to be begging him to let it go and ruin another family meal with an argument. As willing as he was to relieve his frustration right then and there, Lucas went back to poking at his breakfast instead of eating it. Out of everyone at the table, only Toby seemed to show any sort of enthusiasm by playing with the cereal in his bowl, an action that would normally give him a “don’t play with your food” from his mother but not this morning. Nothing much was said by anyone for the first ten minutes of breakfast until Marguerite broke the silence.

    “I wonder how much damage there is out there from the storm last night.” She pondered aloud hoping to strike up any sort of conversation amongst those at the table.

    “Yeah, I’ll head out after breakfast and have a look around.” Jack responded trying to sound somewhat cheerful.

    “I’ll, uh, come out and help you.” Lucas said which brought a smile to both his parents’ faces and shock to Zoe's; since when did her brother ever volunteer to do work? Toby, who was once again sitting on Lucas’ lap, apparently wanted in on yard examining too.

    “I wan’ come too!” He squealed, jumping up and down on Lucas.

    “Alright, alright you can come too.” Lucas told him while trying to make him sit still, but Lucas knew’d that be a pointless battle to fight; there was no stopping Toby whenever he got excited. The little boy began clapping his small hands and yelling out “yay” over and over. Everyone at the table besides Chrys began laughing at how cute he was being. His mother, on the other hand, had not yet lifted her gaze from her mug. Marguerite was the first to notice and was immediately deeply concerned.

    Chrys darling, is something wrong?” She asked, immediately bringing the attention of everyone in the room on Chrys.

    “I’m fine.” She said so quiet it was almost inaudible. Lucas reached out to take her hand but she quickly pulled it out of his reach.

    “Babe what’s wrong?” He asked worryingly but received no answer.

    “Mama?” Toby looked over at his mother, starting to get scared by the way she was acting. Finally Chrys had had enough and got up from the table, not bothering to make eye contact with anyone else. She darted out of the dining room through the kitchen door and thudded her way up to the second floor.

    “Chrys!” Lucas yelled after her before lifting Toby over to Chrys’ chair and following her out of the room and up the stairs. He kept calling for her to stop and slow down as he followed her into the old kids’ room. Once inside, he managed to catch her arm before she made it to the ladder and drew her closer to him.

    “Let me go Lucas.” She scowled and tried to pull away.

    “No, y'need to tell me what’s wrong.”

    “I don’t need to tell you anything.”

    He let her go and she turned her back to him and crossed her arms. Confused on what to do in the situation, Lucas only thought to jump into action to hug her when he heard her start to sniffle. She tried to fight him off for a moment but eventually gave into his embrace, crying into his chest.

    “It’s alright baby, it’s alright.” He said while petting her hair and holding her tight to his warm body. Lucas had never been good with knowing what to say but he was more than capable of keeping her close until she felt okay again. What he really wanted to do was tell her how much he loved her but something about it felt wrong.

    “I heard you and your dad last night.” She finally said.

    “I thought you were asleep.” Lucas stated while feeling nervous about what she was about to say.

    “You woke me up." She told him, pulling away from him again. “It wasn’t just you he hurt last night, you know.”

    At first Lucas didn’t comprehend what she telling him. His father clearly felt terrible about what happened so what did she have to be upset about?

    “I know that Chrys. Look, I ain't usually the most keen on forgiving dad's fuck ups but I also know he really feels bad about hurting both of us.”

    “So why haven’t I gotten an apology, Lucas?" She asked, her voice rising in anger with every word. It hurt Lucas that he didn’t have an answer.

    “I don’t know babe, maybe he just hasn’t gotten the chance to talk to you yet.” He said fully knowing that it was a crappy excuse even as the words left his mouth. As if on cue, there was a knock on the door and in walked Jack. Chrys turned her back to both men and crossed her arms once again. Lucas and Jack exchanged looks of worry and hopelessness for the situation.

    “Chrys I want to apologize for last night.” Jack said outright, not bothering to avoid going around the real problem. When she made no sign of acknowledging of what he said, he decided to continue on.

    “It’s one thing that I hurt my son, which I still shouldn’t have, but it’s even worse that I hurt someone else’s kid, especially in front of yer own little boy. You don’t have to accept my apology, hell I don’t expect ya to, but please know that I’d never mean to hurt you or your son. C'mon Chrys, please say something.”

    But she didn’t say a word. Instead, she crossed the room over to him and forcefully wrapped her arms around his neck. Chrys finally realized she was sick of fighting and feeling angry with Lucas’ family. Ever since her and Lucas met she had listened to all his stories about all the bad things his parents would do to him and she was done with the constant hate she had always felt towards the rest of the Bakers. A part of her always understood that his complaints about his parents were only the ramblings of a typical angsty teenage boy but she had always felt compelled to agree with him. But not anymore.

    “It’s okay.” She muffled multiple times into his shirt. Jack pulled her closer and petted her wavy mane just as Lucas had minutes before which gave her the same feeling of being put back together. Lucas watched as the two reconciled and found himself letting a tear stream down his cheek, which didn’t go unnoticed by his father, then he quickly wiped it away. He didn’t know how long this happy moment would last but a voice of truth in the back of his mind doubted it would last for long.

           

    That afternoon, after the yard work was done, Chrys had settled down on the attic couch with her three-year-old sitting beside her. Lucas sat at his computer with his back to them. They were all so tired that not much was being said among them which made Toby antsy; he always needed at least a little bit of sound to keep him happy.

    "Mommy I want a story." He blurted out while squirming his way to sitting on her lap.

    "Sure, what one?"  
    "How you and Lucas met."  
    "Bud, I've told you that story a million times."  
    "I like it."

    "I can tell it." Lucas said, turning away from his laptop to face them. He got up the old stool and made his way over to sit on the couch beside Toby and Chrys. The little boy immediately crawled over from his mother's lap to Lucas'.  
    "Yes! Yes! Lucas tell story!" Toby squealed and clapped, hugging Lucas tight. Lucas loved moments like these. He never saw himself as a guy who wanted to have a kid, he even sometimes felt disgusted by them, yet here he was, practically accepting Toby as his own.

    And so the next thirty minutes was spent with the retelling of the day Chrys and Lucas had met, with a few corrections by Chrys.

    It was back when he was in the eleventh grade and Chrys was in the tenth. Every year, a group of schools in the US got together and chose one of them to host an engineering competition. That year it had been Chrys' school in Texas, Parkstone High, that was chosen to host and Lucas had been one among a few others from his school, and one among twenty students from various schools chosen to compete. When he and the rest of his school's representatives arrived along with the football team and their overly-bubbly cheerleaders, Chrys was standing out front as apart of the welcoming committee, although the bored expression on her face told how she clearly didn't want to be there. ("of course I did!")

    Due to his school not only being cheap but also incapable of doing anything nice for their students, they didn't book hotel rooms for everyone so a handful of them had to stay with different families of Parkstone's student body. Lucas was one of the unlucky few to have been excluded from the hotel and was told he was staying with some Dudley kid and his family. To his surprise, Dudley actually turned out to be an okay guy and his mother was an amazing cook so his time there ended up being more enjoyable than expected.

     All Lucas wanted out of his first day at Parkstone was to lay low, maybe hang around Dudley a bit, and avoid any unwanted attention from the members of his school's football; most players on the team made a sport out of verbally, and the odd time physically, attacking Lucas, but he wasn't afraid to attack back which is what often led to after school detentions and a suspension that one time.

    This trip, Lucas decided, he wouldn't bother with the dimwitted, half-baked assholes and, instead, would focus on winning the contest and the five hundred dollar cash prize that came with it. The first part of day one in Texas went by quiet enough; it wasn't until right before lunch that he managed to get himself into a fight with Corey, the captain of the football team, while on the way to the bathroom. Standing between Corey and a wall of lockers, in an empty hallway, was a gorgeous brunette who seemed to be desperately trying to find a way out the situation she was in. Usually, Lucas wasn't the type to save a damsel in distress but there was something about this girl that compelled him to do it.

    "Hey dumbass! Leave the girl alone. Don't you have something else to do that won't hurt yer puny brain?" Lucas called as he approach the two of them. Corey turned to look at him and let out what sounded like the deep growl of a wolf.

    "Fuck off, Swamp Boy, this is none of your concern." He warned.

    "I said leave her alone." Lucas repeated. "Whatever you want from her I'm sure your whore of a girlfriend wouldn't appreciate it."

    "You filthy son of a bitch!" Corey roared and swung his fist at the thinner boy. With speed being his strength, Lucas swiftly ducked under the blow and, in one quick motion, whirled around the football captain and kicked his ass to the ground. Already proud of himself for knocking Corey down, the snickering coming from behind Lucas made him feel even happy with himself for besting the large oaf.

    "Errgg!" Corey raged as he jumped to his feet, not without wincing, and turned to face Lucas again. Lucas thought he try to go another round but the sound of the lunch bell cut him off. "Watch your back, Baker Boy, you ain't getting off easy for this."

     "What? Too scared to finish it now? Or are you too scared of an audience?" Lucas taunted, satisfaction laced in his voice. Corey only response before turning to leave through the growing crowd of students was a deep snarl and a glare.

    "Asshole." Lucas whispered to himself.

    "Thanks for that." A female voice said from behind him. For a moment, he had forgotten what he had started the fight with Corey for and that the girl had still been there.

    "Oh, uh, it was nothing, really."

    "Well, for it being nothing I still appreciate it. I feel like I owe you something but I hate to say that I got somewhere to be right now. I'll see you around maybe?" She asked with the brightest smile anyone had ever given to him in all his life.

     "Y-yeah, I'll be here all week." He stammered while he nodded his head. Later, he knew he would beat himself up for how stupid he knew he sounded when he talked to her; never before had he been nervous to talk to a girl but, again, something about her was different. Lucas stood there watching her walk away until a hand clasped his shoulder and its owner turned out to be Dudley who offered to sit with him in the cafeteria; still distracted by what just happened, he absentmindedly agreed and then found himself following Dudley to go eat.    

    An hour an hour later, they were still sitting in the large room eating their lunches, Lucas picking at a stew his mother had specially cooked for his first day there and had put into a thermos, when he saw the girl from before walking in their direction.

    “Hey, do you, uh, know that girl over there?” Lucas asked, nodding in her direction. Dudley turned in his chair to see who his new friend was talking about and immediately snorted a laugh.

    “Who, Chrys? Yeah I know her, unfortunately. She’s my neighbor; our moms are good friends and Chrys is my girlfriend’s best friend.”

     “Well, what’s she like?”

     “A pain in the ass...specifically mine.”

     “Who’s a pain in your ass?” Chrys injected into the conversation having finally reached the two boys.

     “You are.” Dudley replied honestly.

    “Well someone has to do it.” She said before turning to Lucas. “Hey, it’s Lucas right? One of your school's cheerleaders said so. Thanks again for what happened back there.”

    “Uh, no problem. I know Corey can be a dick so I just figured it’d be worth it to save someone from his dickery.”

    Chrys laughed. “Well thanks anyway. So Dudley, what’s going on tonight?”

    “Nothing involving you.” He snapped.

    “Aw c’mon, it’s Tuesday and we always do something on Tuesdays.”

    “Yeah well I got a guest I gotta entertain tonight.”

    "Oh really? And who might that be?”

    “That’d be me.” Lucas interrupted sheepishly.

    “Oh! Well I guess that means we’re neighbors for the week. ” Chrys said, smiling at him. "I think we're gonna have some fun, you and I! In fact, why don't you come over tonight? Save Dudley from having to think too hard to find ways to entertain you."

    "How thoughtful of you." Dudley mumbled.

    "I try." She replied with a smirk and plopped herself down on the seat next to Lucas; all he could think of now was how excited he was for the school day to end and for what the evening might bring.

 

    “And that’s it.” Lucas concluded.

    “That’s it? But what about the competition? Did you win?” Toby whined while looking from Lucas to his mother.

    “Yeah he won alright.” Chrys answered, “then he took me out to dinner with the prize money.” She reached out for Lucas’ hand; he took it and pulled her towards him and Toby. Chrys smiled as she watched her son get distracted and play with the zipper of Lucas’ hoodie and giggle as he did so. It was moments like this that Chrys felt the happiest and safest in life, but as happy as she was with Lucas she was still eager to go home and get away from the Baker farm.


	4. The Drive

    Convincing Toby to leave might have been the hardest thing Chrys had to do since arriving at the Baker farm. He was holding on tight to Lucas’ shirt and hiding his face into the older boy’s stomach. Chrys had tried everything from promising him that they’d stop and get snacks on the way home to she’d buy him the remote controlled car he’d wanted for months. It was only when Lucas promised he’d come visit the next weekend that the little boy reluctantly let go and allowed Lucas to carry him to Chrys’ truck. Lucas sat him on the passenger side of the bench seat, said his goodbyes and made sure Toby was settled before closing the door and making his way back over to his girlfriend. Chrys wrapped her arms around his neck, which was its own feat due to him being almost a head taller than her, and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

    “Thanks for convincing him to leave.” She said with a grin.

    “No problem, I mean, it was pretty easy; you jus' have t'figure out what he really wants and then put the offer out t'him.”

     “You mean bribe him? Maybe I should’ve thought of that. You know, me being his mother and all.” She joked and they both laughed. As much as Lucas didn’t want to acknowledge it, he was trying to prolong their goodbye. He hated whenever he had to watch her leave and not know when they might see each other again.

     Since they were hidden by trees from the view of the house and the watchful stare of his parents, Lucas felt safe enough to kiss her. He loved being able to just be caught up in her and her beautiful eyes. Leaning in, he put his hand on the back of her neck, tangling his fingers in her soft hair; their lips touched and he pulled her even closer to him.

    But their romantic moment was short lived.

    “I thought we were going home!” Toby yelled out the truck window in a whiny voice. She was beginning to regret the fact that he had inherited her ability to be extremely impatient.

    “I’m coming hon, don’t worry about it.” Chrys called back to him, not taking her eyes off of Lucas’, “I should go.” She told him.

    “Yeah, you probably should.” He said before kissing her one last time. “We’ll video chat tonight.”  Chrys nodded in agreement then tore herself away from him.

    Lucas waved to the two of them as Chrys manoeuvred the truck around to drive down the dirt path back to the road. He stood there until he could no longer see or hear them, and then headed back up towards the house to most likely hide in the attic from his family until it was time for supper.

 

As typical for their drives together, Toby didn’t stop talking the entire time. He liked to talk about his favourite video games, fun things he’d do with his uncle, Chrys’ brother Jonathan, and about anything he’d see out the window that happened to catch his eye. While some may find it annoying, Chrys found her little boy’s ramblings to be cute; it made her feel like a proud parent to see her child enjoy so much of life. She’d occasionally take her eyes off the road for a moment to watch him marvel at whatever he happened to be looking at at that moment; I can’t believe I managed to have a kid like him, she had thought to herself so many times.

    “Mommy?” Toby said, interrupting her thoughts about him.

    “Yes Tobes?”

    “Are you and Lucas gonna get married?” He asked curiously. Chrys had to laugh at the question. “What’s so funny momma?”

    “Nothing, hon. We might get married one day, you never know, but not anytime soon for sure.”

    “Why not? Don’t you love each other?”

    “Of course bud, but it’s not that simple.”

    “Why not?”

    “It just isn’t.” She told him and that was the end of the conversation. Toby pouted for a second and then sat back in his seat and returned to gazing out the window while Chrys began to reflect on Lucas and her's relationship. Would they ever get married? When would they? Would she be wasting her time of freedom if she married him sooner rather than later?

    Would he even want to marry her?

    One thing she did know for certain was that it wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have with him anytime soon. She had school to finish and he was having his own problems with figuring out what he wanted to do with his life. They’d talked before about their future together, a few years back, and while it wasn’t a terrible discussion it also didn’t get them very far.

 

 

    Chrys had joined the Baker family for a few days while they were on vacation at their relative’s vacant cottage. It was a beautiful secluded spot, surrounded by woods on three sides, on a small cliff with a beach beneath it that was reachable by a steep sandy path. Jack, Marguerite, Lucas and Zoe were staying there for two weeks; Marguerite was the one who suggested inviting Chrys to stay with them for the last three days of trip and after realizing how bored he would be alone, Lucas wasted no time in calling her up and asking if she'd like to join them. As a kid, Lucas loved the cottage. He loved exploring the forest, learning to swim in the warm water by the beach, (all by himself if you asked him, although Jack would disagree) and trying to build a secret hideout for himself with a broken down tree, large leaf-covered branches and brush. Ten years later, he was disgusted by the lack of an internet connection and spent the entire vacation complaining about how he wanted to go home and that it was ridiculous that his cousins had never bothered to install wi-fi in the small building. Finally, he would have Chrys to keep him company.

    On their last day together, Lucas decided that he wanted to show Chrys a small pool in a cave that he had discovered when he was younger and had never told another soul about. It was off to the side of the beach and unreachable by foot so the two teens had to swim from the shore to the other side of the rock wall that enclosed the beach. When they had gotten there, Chrys was amazed by what she saw; a natural waterfall flowed from a hole in the wall down into the crystal blue water, making the cave seem somewhat magical. Maybe even a little bit romantic.

    While Chrys was still marvelling at the sight of the cave, Lucas took her hand and guided her towards the middle of the pool. He was thankful that both of them were good swimmers or else the little date they were having could’ve ended terribly.

    “Cool, ain't it?” He asked while enjoying the sight of a large smile on her face.

    “Amazing. You’re really the only one who knows about this place?”

    “As far as I know. Well, jus' you and I now.” He smiled at her and she threw her arms around his neck. They kissed for a moment before he pushed lightly away from her, took her by the hand again, and swam closer to the waterfall. He stopped at a spot that Chrys came to realize had flat rocks high enough that they could sit on together. Lucas hopped up onto the closest rock with half of his torso still underwater, sitting down in front of his girlfriend. Then he pulled her up onto his lap, with her back to his chest, and wrapped his arms around her waist to keep her from falling forward; he felt a bit awkward touching so much of her when she was only wearing a bikini but in a way it felt sort of right, he was a teenage boy after all and he'd be lying if he denied hoping for sex before their time together was done. He tried to push out the thought of how there wasn’t much clothing between them at that moment, figuring that it wasn’t something he needed to be thinking about when in a cave (he did consider the idea of what it'd be like to make love on those rocks). Then Chrys moved his hands from her waist to on top of her stomach, he wasn’t quite sure why but he happily went along with it. The two of them sat there for a while; Chrys taking in the entire cave while Lucas was letting himself get lost in her. Suddenly he felt an urge to make conversation.

     “What do you think about me becoming a rock star?” Lucas asked, seemingly out of nowhere, knowing that Chrys would understand it was a joke.

    “Now I’d like to see that.” She laughed. “And why would you become a rock star?”

    “Well if I made it big just imagine all the money we’d have!”

    “We’d have?” She asked, raising her eyebrow at him.

    “Yeah, when we’re married and have a bunch of kids. You won’t even have to work; how does that sound?”

    “It sounds impossible.”

    He pulled her even closer to his chest and nuzzled his nose into her hair. Chrys let out a laugh and kissed him on the cheek, turning and putting her arms around his upper body as she did so.             

    Everything seemed so perfect. But it didn’t last for very long.

    “You know, I heard them say I shouldn’t be allowed to have kids.” He said suddenly, sounding more solemn.

    “What?” Chrys had been told about Lucas’ brain being checked out as a kid and that they found something was wrong, but she didn’t know he was haunted by it.

    “The doctors were talking to mom and dad again. They don’t think it’d be safe for me to take care of a kid; they don’t even think it’d be safe for me to move out and live on my own.”

    “Lucas that’s dumb, they don’t know what they’re talking about.”

    “I thought doctors always knew what they’re talking about.”

    “Well these ones don’t. There is nothing wrong with you Luc-“

    “Then explain the head scan Chrys! Something’s not right with me and it apparently makes me dangerous…and maybe they’re right 'bout that.”

    “Don’t say that Lucas.”

    “It’s the truth.”

    “No it’s not.” She insisted. “I hate knowing you’re thinking like this and I don’t care what they say, there’s not a damn thing wrong with you Lucas Baker and I mean that.”

    A tear fell from his eye. Lucas rarely cried but something about the way she believed in him so much pushed him over the edge.

    “I love you Chrys, you know that right?” Was all he said.

    And that was the first time he ever said it to her.

    

 

    It was a day Chrys remembered well and doubted she could ever forget. She could still feel the way he had held her as if she might be taken away from him at any moment. Their relationship had been a little awkward in the beginning but it changed that day in the cave when he finally told her that he loved her and, within the next thirty minutes, he showed her exactly how much with his body. Chrys smiled to herself at the memory. Once again, she looked at her son who was now playing a game on her phone and smiled.

    Oh how he looked like Lucas.


	5. The Park

Five months later

 

Meet me in the park at 1, okay?

 

    Chrys was highly suspicious of the text Lucas sent her. It was rare that Lucas would make the drive from Dulvey to visit her in Texas, especially in such bad weather like the downpour of rain that was tapping on her bedroom window. There was no explanation for why he'd visit without her asking him to or even without giving a substantial reason to come see her. Rain poured down hard outside on the roof as she sat on her bed looking at the screen of her phone, her heart in a state between excitement and worry. It had to be something urgent if he was willing to drive in such dangerous conditions to meet her in the park, that or he had completely lost his mind.

    Being the only one home at the time, it was easy for Chrys to sneak out with her umbrella and not be forced by her parents to stay home. She somehow managed to navigate her way through the downpour to the park in a remarkable less than ten minutes. The park gates were wide open, welcoming her in as she ran through them and right away she saw Lucas sitting at a picnic table with only the hood of his already soaking wet hoodie to protect him from the rain. The closer she got to approaching him the more she felt that something was wrong, more specifically, something about him was wrong.

    He looked sickly. It had been a few months since they had communicated through anything but texting and phone calls and Chrys was starting to wonder if his new pale and tired-looking appearance had anything to do with it.

    “Lucas what’s going on?” She asked when she got close, her eyes already tearing up.

    “I’m so sorry, I really am.” He only sputtered as he stood up from the table.

    “What in the hell are you talking about? Lucas, what’s going on?”

    “I’m sorry Chrys.” Then he paused, trying, yet failing, to compose himself. “I asked you t'come here because I-I needed to tell you something.” Another pause, “We can’t be together anymore.”

    “W-what?” She stuttered, unable to form a full thought or sentence. She hadn’t been prepared to hear this.

    “Some things are going on back home and y'just can’t be involved. It’s too dangerous and I won’t let you get hurt because of me. So...just walk away now before this gets any harder.” Tears were now streaming down both their faces by this point and reddening their eyes. She couldn't why if this hurt him so much, why was he doing it?q

    “I thought you loved me.” was all Chrys could manage to say to him.

    “I-I do Chrys, trust me I love you more than anything or anyone but I can’t let you get hurt. I promised I’d always protect you and this is the only way how. It kills me t'do this, God I hate it, but I have to. Goodbye Chrys.” He turned to leave but then Chrys grabbed his arm and pulled him back; he ripped his arm from her grip and their eyes met for a half a second before Lucas' gaze dropped to the ground.

     “Lucas, please." She sobbed in a whisper but he was already turning his back to her once again; if he had heard her pleading he paid no attention to her. And then he left. He sped walk over to his car, got in and drove away leaving Chrys alone in the park. She couldn’t move, she didn’t know how. Her everything had just broken her heart like it was a thin dry stick and then simply drove away, leaving her there. Chrys watched him go until his car was out of sight, but even after she just stood there like a tree. 

    Eventually it began to rain even harder but she stayed put; a part of her hoped he’d come back, wrap his hoodie around her and help her into his car to take her home but it wouldn’t happen. Instead she stood there for almost an hour until her brother drove by on his way home and noticed her standing there.

     “Chrys, what the hell are you doing in this rain?” He yelled from inside his truck.”You’re soaked and look terrible. C’mon, let’s go home!” He said but she didn’t hear a word of it. Her mind was frozen from thinking of anything other than Lucas. Her brother finally realized she wouldn’t respond and decided his only option was to get out and carry her back over to his truck and then take her home to a warm bed and dry clothes. He wasn’t always a good brother but he would never leave her in the pouring rain when she was clearly upset. He had a feeling her mood had to do with a certain boy. A certain boy he figured he’d need to have a chat with in the near future.

 

    Chrys barely left her room in the months that followed. She didn’t make much effort to communicate with anyone, not even Toby; she knew it wasn’t fair to him but she just couldn’t bring herself to do anything about it. She didn’t talk about what happened with anyone, but her brother informed their parents about what he was pretty sure that happened that day. Toby, she figured, found out on his own.

    “Mommy where’s Lucas?” Toby asked her one day when she had cocooned herself in her blankets trying to shut out the world. He waited but didn’t get an answer.

    “Mommy!” He began shouting repeatedly while pushing the lump on the bed that was his mother. Within a minute, Chrys’ mother Magnolia was at the door of the room that Toby and Chrys shared hoping to put a stop to her grandson’s screaming.

    “Toby that’s enough, leave your mom alone.” She told him but he didn’t want to listen.

    “But Grammy, she’s not doing anything! She never does anything anymore and I don’t like it!” He screamed while starting to cry. He ran over to his grandmother and cried into her thighs, she patted his hair and tried to calm him down.

    “Hey, it’s alright.” She said soothingly, “Why don’t you go out to the living room and watch some T.V. with Grampy?”

    “Okay.” He sniffled and left the room. Then, with a heavy sigh, Magnolia went over and sat on the edge of her daughter’s bed, putting a hand on what she guessed was Chrys’ hip.

    “You know you can’t be like this forever.” She said but didn’t get an answer so she continued. “He’s just a boy Chrys, you’ll meet a thousand other ones in your life and I know that sounds like the most mom-ist thing to say but it’s true. Maybe he saved you from a terrible future with him by breaking it off.”

    “I don’t want a thousand other men, I want him.” Was all Chrys said in a mumble; at least that’s something out of her Magnolia thought to herself. She also knew that it was all she was going to get out of her for the time being. She hated seeing her daughter like this but she didn’t know what to do anymore; she rarely responded when people talked to her, she ate less and less as the weeks went on and she even shut out her own son most of the time. Magnolia had considered taking Chrys to see a doctor but she knew she couldn’t do that to her own daughter whom she also certain was strong enough on her own to get over this.

    Eventually Magnolia left Chrys’ room and made her way to the connected kitchen and living room to talk with Sam, her husband. He was sitting on the couch with a hand on Toby who was fast asleep on his lap. She sat down beside them and laid her head on Sam’s shoulder, sighing once again.

    “No luck?” He asked upon seeing his wife’s defeated expression.

    “Not a bit. I don’t know what we’re gonna do with her, Sam I really don’t.” Magnolia said quietly.

    “Don’t worry we’ll figure it out and she’ll be fine.” Sam assured her.

    “I can make her a dating profile and find her a new boyfriend.” Jonathan, who was sitting at the kitchen table eating pizza, chimed in but was immediately shut down by his parents and their unison of "no"s. He then got up and left to his room in the basement muttering something about only trying to help.

 

    A week later, their town was holding a picnic in the park for a summer festival and Magnolia somehow managed to convince the entire family to attend, with Chrys being the most difficult to convince. In the end, it came down to Magnolia telling her she had to go or she’d be severely punished if she didn’t; between her mother’s threats and Toby’s begging, Chrys reluctantly got out of bed, made herself relatively presentable and walked over to the picnic with the rest of her family. On the way there, she held the hand of her bouncy son who was ecstatic that she was joining them. He went on about how excited he was to see the fireworks display that night with her.

    “It’s gonna be so pretty!” He exclaimed. “Are you excited, mommy?”

    “Uh huh.” She responded unenthusiastically but Toby didn’t catch it, he just continued on being happy with the situation. He had given up trying to pull her arm to make her go faster and had settled into a skip at his mother’s snailish pace, which was immensely slower than that of rest of her family.

     When they reached the park Toby looked to his mother for permission to run off and join in on the games with some of the other town kids. Needing a break from him she nodded a yes and he took off towards an ongoing game of Duck Duck Goose, while Magnolia, Sam and Jonathan made their way to the nearest free picnic table (coincidently the same one Lucas had been sitting at that day) to set down their cooler and other things. Chrys, however, chose to stand away from the crowds under a large tree in the corner of the park. She leaned back onto the rough bark of the tree, closed her eyes and listened to the busy noise around her.

    A few minutes later she heard the close thumping of footsteps approaching her. She opened her eyes to see a teenage boy, probably the same age as her, slowly making his way over to the tree. He had raven black hair and skin that Chrys could’ve sworn was comparable, in colour, to snow; he was a bit on the short side but looked like he could hold his own in a fight all the same. He was wearing a white hoodie and black pants, which Chrys guessed was his normal everyday attire. Kinda like Lucas, she noted to herself for a second before quickly pushing it out of her mind.

    Finally the boy reached her.

    “Hey.” The pale boy greeted her, almost sounding too interested in her. Please don’t let him flirt with me; I don’t need that right now she thought silently.

    “Hi.” Chrys responded without making eye contact. She wasn’t interested in making conversation with people, especially not with a boy.

    “My name’s Jeff.” He informed her with his hand extended. She took it and limply shook it, trying to emphasising her desire to not socialize with him.

    “I’m Chrys.” She answered back.

    “You here with anyone?

    “Just my family, they’re all over there.” She said, pointing over at the table that her parents and Jonathan were sitting at. She noticed that Toby was now sitting with them; he probably had gotten quickly bored with the games as he usually did. The kid had the worst attention span.

    Chrys’ hadn’t realized she’d been lost in her thoughts about her son until the boy, Jeff, asked her another question.

    “What about that guy that was with you when you got here?” It took a moment for Chrys to realize who he was referring to; she also chose to ignore the fact that this stranger noticed and was watching when she arrived and who she arrived with.

    “Oh, that’s just my brother. I don’t have, uh, any guy hanging around me.” It was painful for her to hear the words aloud, but it was also a step towards getting over Lucas; whether she wanted to admit it or not.

    “I see… I get the feeling like there was a guy hanging around before?” He said, meaning it as a question.

    “Yeah, but he’s, uh, long gone now I guess.”

    “Well if you don’t have anyone to see the fireworks with tonight I’ll gladly join you.” He offered, having clearly been waiting for an opportunity to ask her.

    “I do have my son with me but you can join us if you want, he’s a good kid and wouldn’t be a nuisance…probably.”

    “You have a son?” Was all he seemed to care about. “Aren’t you a bit too young?”

    “I was, uh, kidnapped a few years back; nine months later I had a baby.”

    “Shit, I’m sorry to hear that.” He told her, a look of sadness plastered on his face.

   “It’s fine, I mean, yeah it kinda ruined my life for a bit but I couldn’t imagining not having the little tyke around now. He’s probably the reason I can feel somewhat okay every day. “ But Lucas used to do that too, he took such good care of her when no one else could. There was a time when he was the only one she trusted and felt safe with.

    As if he heard her talking about him, Toby called for her from the picnic table in a scream that everyone in the park must've heard.

    “Mommy! You have to come eat some of this food, it tastes so good!” The little boy yelled out to her. She nodded at him to let him know she heard him and then turned back to the boy.

    “I gotta go for now but I guess I’ll meet back up with you later tonight, okay?”

    “Sounds good to me.” He answered with a grin that seemed to stretch from one ear to the other. He waved slightly, then turned and ran towards where the games were being held.

    "What a weirdo." Chrys whispered, shaking her head.

 

    When the time for fireworks came around, Jeff suddenly appeared out of nowhere to meet her and Toby. After a short introduction to the younger boy (“He’s no Lucas” was Toby’s only comment to his mother, spoken into her ear in a soft whisper) the trio set off towards where Jeff claimed to be the best spot to watch the display from. It was a small patch of grass on the other side of the fence that closed off the park area and was well hidden by trees from the view of practically anyone at any angle. Jeff had already laid a blanket down on the ground with a small bowl of gummy worms which Toby immediately began eating from.

    “Toby, don’t be so rude!” Chrys scolded.

    “But Mama, it’s candy and I love candy.” He whined at her.

    “No one said it was yours.” She told him which made the little boy start to cry. Jeff picked up the bowl and held it up to Toby.

    “It’s alright bud, you can have as much as you want.” He offered and then Toby immediately stopped crying and wasted no time in taking a handful of the worms. He stuffed half of them into his mouth and muffled a ‘Thank You’ to Jeff before plopping himself down on the blanket to enjoy the candy.

    Their clocks read 9:30 and the sky was ready to be lit up with fireworks. With every bang and light Toby clapped with joy, seeming to forget all about eating the rest of his gummy worms. For the first time in months Chrys smiled and laughed while watching her son; she was happy with what she had in that moment.


	6. The Gift

2 years later

 

    Lucas trudged his way to the barn, his hideout, in an attempt to avoid having to deal with the mess of whatever new “Family member” his father had been taking care of. He was sick of it all and only wanted to be left alone to build his traps and inventions; they were the only things he loved that were still left in his life, which had been reduced to nothing but spying on Eveline and trying to keep her happy at the same time.

    Eveline. From what Lucas was told, she was a bio-weapon created by some company in an attempt to create the ultimate weapon for war. She had the unexplainable ability to infect her victims with the mold she often vomited out and once infected, which she called her gift, they would be under her complete control. It had been almost two years since that little ten-year-old looking bitch had appeared covered in oil from the busted tanker in the bayou. She had been made to look that age and was actually only around four years of age. After all the messing with his brain she had done, he could somewhat still recall the night that his father had carried her into their dining room after finding her during a raging hurricane.  Since then she had used her creepy bio-weapon voodoo magic to take control of the Bakers and make them her own family, everyone except for Zoe. Eventually the girl decided she wanted her freak show of a family to grow so she had Lucas and his parents kidnap people to be turned into these monsters called ‘The Molded’. It wasn’t long after that that Lucas had been contacted by her makers and was asked to spy on Eveline’s condition and actions; in return he was given the serum that would sever her mental control over him. Ever since, Lucas had to watch his family be driven to insanity although he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to take advantage of the situation.

    Whatever had been going on in the lobes of his brain since his childhood had begun to affect his sanity. More and more everyday he took joy in putting victims through unsolvable puzzles and traps that ended in their death. There was no one to stop him, no one to tell him what he was doing was wrong.

    No one to keep him sane. Not anymore.

    Lucas entered the old barn and made his way to what he called his office, mumbling as he went.

    “Another goddamned mess to clean up after that old man. The same thing day after day.” He grumbled as he sat down in his computer chair and faced the monitors on the desk. He smiled at the picture that was taped to the top of the screen and in it Chrys and Toby smiled back at him. He put his hand to his ex-girlfriend’s face and told her he loved her like he did every day. But what did it matter? He let her go two years ago and couldn’t expect her to ever take him back even if he showed up at her house and begged her and told her how much he wanted her.

    He tried to keep track of how she was doing for a few months but eventually gave up. Not only was it painful for him to watch her put herself back together and move on but it killed him to see her be with someone else. When he found out she had met another boy and started a relationship with him, it broke Lucas’ heart; he knew it was wrong to want her to stay lonely if she was going to be with anyone but him, but he couldn’t help it. He loved her and he’d always love her. It seemed to be the sole constant admiration he had felt for anyone throughout his entire life.

   

    That afternoon Lucas decided to spend some time in the old mines south of the Baker property, which had become another hideout for him. After navigating through his own traps and feeling proud of himself for his expert placing of them, he entered the small lab where he often wrote his updates on Eveline for the company that created her. He sat at his old laptop, which he had eventually chose to leave there in fear of a family member finding it, and looked back through various documents he had written over the past two years. There were his complaints about his family, comments on how stupid he thought Eveline was (he laughed at those) and the last documents contained notes on the little bio-weapon’s rapid aging, something Lucas didn’t completely understand and was never explained to him, yet he guessed it to be another miscalculation by her creators. The contents of that laptop were the price he had to pay for keeping his mind clear; all in all, it wasn’t that terrible of a price to pay.

    After an hour of sitting at the computer and rereading the E-mail log multiple times, Lucas found himself bored of reading so he left to head back to the barn. The walk back through the woods was slow and quiet but Lucas preferred it that way. There wasn’t any screaming from his mother or the drunken anger of his father to get on his nerves, but he knew that would come soon enough if he were to hang too close to house when he got back. The control Eveline had on his parents morphed their personalities to that of cannibalistic psychopaths with regenerative abilities, the latter being the only part of Eveline’s “gift” that Lucas still had; every night was marked by yet another meal of that day’s sorry victim. Most of the time Lucas managed to avoid eating the disgusting food without arousing the suspicion of his parents but on a few occasions he had to force himself to down the slimy and grotesque cooked body parts to save his own ass from a beating. (although that didn’t always work) It appeared that Eveline was not aware of Lucas’ break from her control and he intended to keep it that way.

    The path back to the house was lined on either side with forest as was the rest of the property; it was perfect to hide from the world all the killing that went on. As Lucas got closer to the end of the dirt path and into their backyard, he could hear his father yelling at someone who was most likely his mother, but Lucas was sure she could hold her own against him and yell back louder. In fact, he was wondering why he wasn’t hearing her when out of the corner of his eye he saw the light from the lantern Marguerite always carried around moving through the trees to his left and realized she couldn’t be the one his father was yelling at. To his right was the gate to the old house, his mother’s hangout, and farther over was the barn with its spotlights shining and music blaring like Lucas liked it. He was tempted to forget what he had heard and simply go back to his office but a voice in his head convinced him not to. Out of curiosity, he darted past the trailer that sat in the middle of the courtyard, making sure he wasn’t seen by his mother, and then he approached the back porch and stood by the door trying to hear what was going on. By the time he got up close enough to hear, the yelling had died down to normal talking. Whoever was in there with Jack didn’t seem to be scared of the bigger older man.

    It was a familiar voice.

    “I just came to see Lucas, that’s all.” They said.  The sound of their voice made his heart jump in excitement; he busted into the room to see if they were who he thought they were.

    And they were.

    “Why are you here?” He asked them.

    “Why am I here? That’s the first thing you say to me after leaving and not speaking to me for two years? You break my heart and continue on with your happy little life here while I suffered for months on end, got unhappily married twice, had several children all while I was still in love with you!” Chrys roared at him, getting louder with every word she spoke. Lucas wanted to talk it all over with her but not with his father in the room. Although what he really wanted to do was kiss her which he also wouldn’t dare do with his father in the room.

    “Come with me, okay? I wanna talk with you,” Then he looked to Jack, who seemed to be taken aback by Chrys' outburst, and added “in private.”

    “She ain’t going nowhere.” Jack warned his son.

    “Yes she is. She ain’t yours Dad and I won’t let you hurt her.”

    “Do I have a say in this?” She interjected.

    “No.” Jack answered.

    “O'course.” Lucas opposed. He still loved her enough to give her freedom to make her own choices, or at least that's what he wanted to believe. “What do you want?” He asked her.

    “I…I want to be with Lucas, we need to talk.”

    “You’ll have forever to talk after you meet ma little girl.” Jack snapped but Lucas had already taken her by the arm and was dragging her out the door. The old man began following them out the door but stopped once he stepped off the back porch stairs; he knew he’d get the chance later to get his hands on her.

    The two made their way safely past Marguerite and a mold monster, who was wandering about the yard, and entered the barn. Lucas led Chrys to his office and locked the door behind them. She sat down on the musty tough couch on the other side of the room while Lucas took his computer chair; he could feel the awkwardness existing between them but was afraid to act too fast on any of his feelings. He decided to take what he figured would be the safest start to the conversation.

    “So tell me 'bout all these kids you said you had.” That made Chrys laughed.

    “You’re asking all the important questions today, aren’t you? There’s so much else I need to tell you but if you really wanna know I guess I could tell you a bit about them. I’ve had three since Toby: there’s my only daughter Celes and then there’s the twins Thorin and Kili.”

    “Aren’t those the names of characters from The Hobbit or somethin'?” He asked.

    “Don’t judge me. They’re my favourite characters and it’s not like I’m gonna change their names now. Celes is named after a Final Fantasy character so I guess they’ll all suffer from their mother being terrible at naming them.”

    “Naw, don’t say that.” He said in that deep drawl that she missed so much. “They’re different but the world needs that nowadays.”

    “Well, whatever. Like I said, that’s not what I came here to tell you.”

    “W-what is it? Does your husband know you’re here?” He stuttered, afraid of what she was going to say.

    “My husband is dead.” She said in the most platonic way possible.

    “Oh…I’m sorry.”

   “Don’t be. I guess you could say he was a good husband some of the time, other times he was an abusive asshole. Better than my first husband though.”

    “And what did he do wrong?”

   Chrys scoffed at his question. “Let’s just say he, his name is Jeff, wasn’t around enough for us to even call him a member of the family. That and he didn’t give me much a choice when it came to getting me pregnant, wasn’t too friendly about it either.”

    “Wait, he didn’t, I mean, did he-“

    “It doesn’t matter what he did; once again that isn’t what I needed to tell you.”

    By this point Lucas’ heart was breaking for her and he knew it was his entire fault; she would never have been hurt if he had stayed with her. He was terrified for what she was about to tell him.

    “Alright tell me.” He mumbled shyly.

    Then Chrys jumped right into it “I got a call the other day from the office of the doctor who did Toby’s paternity test. It turns out that they mixed up the results or got something wrong, I’m not really sure about the details, but long story short is that the guy who raped me isn’t Toby’s father…You are, Lucas.”

    Lucas froze at her words.

    “Toby’s…my son?” He couldn’t believe what she had just told him. They always wondered why her son resembled Lucas in many ways, but back then they were so sure there was no way Toby was his. Lucas almost didn’t believe her but he knew by her voice that she wasn’t playing him in any way.

    He had a son. Lucas Baker, the mentally unstable possible psychopath, had a son.

    “Yes, Lucas, he is. Remember that night we spent together about a week before I was kidnapped? It turns out we weren’t as careful as we thought we were. I haven’t told him yet, I wanted for us to tell him together.” She told him.

    Without saying a word, Lucas went over to the couch and sat down beside her and did something he had wanted to do since the last time he saw on that rainy day in the park. He kissed her. He drew her close to him and put his dry lips to her lip gloss glazed ones; he wanted to kiss her until she was put back together again and willing to take him back. They both secretly knew she would, she always would. His lips found their way to her neck and all of a sudden everything came rushing back to him: the luscious scent of her hair and skin, how they used to find comfort in wrapping their arms around each other’s neck and then lie like that on the couch in the attic or on her bed for hours on end without moving, and how much he truly loved this girl. He had her back and this time he wouldn’t be letting her go ever again. She had been through so much yet she never showed her pain, she had always been like that, but Lucas could see it; he could tell from the way she touched each of her fingers to her thumb repeatedly, how her eyes kept looking from side to side as if she was expecting to be attacked at any moment, but mostly by the lack of light in her eyes. They looked tired and dead from everything she had to go through.

    As they kissed, Lucas slowly attempted to coax Chrys’ shirt off her body although, along with the rest of her clothes, she easily would’ve let him rip them off her in a heartbeat. He was so scared of hurting her, as if she was a piece of glass with a massive crack already in the center of it. As his hands moved all over her body, he felt the creases of deep scars on her arms and back that he almost didn't want to know how she got them and wanted to cry for her. Lucas knew the best thing he could for her in that moment was show her that someone loved her and would protect her from the demons that followed her around.

    And after making love, the two fell asleep in each other’s arms.


	7. The Sound

    Chrys spent the following few weeks wandering around the barn (whenever Lucas wasn’t around) but never leaving it. She had a looming fear that Jack would be waiting for her outside and ready to grab her to take her down to the morgue in the basement that Lucas had told her about or someplace else just as terrifying; it was for that reason that Lucas had given her a walkie-talkie so she could contact him at any time. He often told her of the dangers that lived on the plantation with them but never let her in on what was actually going on. Lucas specifically didn't tell her about the crimes he had been forced to commit because of Eveline; he couldn't imagine that she would've taken it well. All Chrys knew was that Jack and Marguerite were dangerous and most likely out to kill her, which broke her heart. There was a time when Chrys thought of Jack and his wife as the nicest couple she'd ever met but those people she once knew were long gone. Her heart ached for Zoe and Lucas who had to witness the mad descent of their parents; Lucas had done so much for Chrys when she was going through the hardest times of her life but she hadn’t been able to be there for him when he probably needed it most.   
    It was the third of September and there was a slight sort of coldness in the air that had fully made its way into the barn. Lucas had given her his hoodie to wear for when the days got too cold and he held her to keep her warm whenever he could; one of the perks of Eveline’s “gift” was a slight resistance to the cold so his hoodie was of more use to Chrys than to himself and he was more than happy to give it to her.   
    That morning, Lucas had snuck off the property in Chrys’ car, which she had fortunately parked far enough away from the mansion to avoid being found from Jack, and then he headed towards town to buy their weekly amount of edible, non-cannibalistic food for Chrys and other foods for him to snack on. He brought back an abundance of junk food like chips and candy but also meal food such as frozen pizzas, fries and taco kits with all the necessary ingredients to make them.  
    “That’s quite the assortment of food.” Chrys had remarked after examining everything he brought back.  
    “Yeah well, I was never actually taught how to grocery shop the right way. At least it’s better than what they’re eating in there....what I've had to eat.”  
    “There’s nothing wrong with what you bought.” She assured him before giving him a kiss on the cheek and returning to the old couch she had become so familiar with. Lucas guessed she must have been telling the truth because since she had showed up on the Baker farm those few weeks ago she had put on a little bit of weight; he wasn’t sure how she managed to do it with small amount of food they had but he knew better than to make a comment about it. He almost couldn’t tell when she wore his loose hoodie but he couldn’t help but notice during their more intimate moments. The weight gain didn't bug him, it was the fact that she had always been bone thin all the years he'd known her and now, all of a sudden, she was getting bigger. It was just odd and a bit suspicious, was all.

     After putting the food away in the little mini fridge he kept under his desk he went over and joined her on the couch, pulling her onto his lap. They kissed for a few minutes before Chrys heard a thumping sound and drew back.  
    “What was that?” She asked, her eyes scanning the room in case the source of the noise was in there with them.  
    “I didn’t hear anything.” He answered, pulling his arms away from her. She slid off him to her feet and went up to the door that led out to the pier and the boathouse; she put her ear up to the wood and listened. Outside something was screeching and Chrys was pretty sure it wasn’t a human being making that sound.  She looked back to Lucas on the couch and shot him a look of worry; he got up and put himself between her and the door, cracking it open slightly.  
    “Stay here.” He warned and walked out onto the pier, closing the door behind him.  
    Panic began to rise up in Chrys; she knew Lucas could take care of himself and, of course, had those regenerative abilities but something felt terribly off about the situation.   
    And sure enough she heard the sound of footsteps coming from the other side of the door leading to the rest of the barn and they were coming closer at a fast pace. Chrys scanned the room for a place to hide but apparently that was the one thing Lucas had forgot to add to his little office. She was contemplating heading out after Lucas when the door was thrown open. The thing she feared most for the past few weeks had just walked into the room.   
    “Well, well, left you alone, has he now? Don’t worry darling, I’ll look after ya.” Jack drawled then laughed maniacally. Misjudging his speed, Chrys wasted no time with bolting for the door that Lucas left through but was caught around the waist by the older man. She kicked violently at both him and the door in an attempt to get away but his grip held tight. Then he shifted so that his left arm was wrapped around her abdomen, leaving his right arm free. The next thing Chrys knew he was connecting his fist to her temple with full force; two out of five punches later, she was out cold.

    There was the smell of sweat and decay in the air and a pounding in her head when Chrys came to. It took a few minutes for her vision to clear and when it did she almost wished she was still unconscious. It was a small dark room with a single light hanging from the ceiling a few inches behind the chair she was tied to. At first she attempted to wiggle her body to loosen the tape that bound her arms, legs and chest to the wooden chair but it was useless. When she realized this, Chrys turned her head as much as she could to get a full view of her prison and gagged at what she saw.  
     Behind her, in the left corner of the room, was a pile of mutilated corpses. Some of the bodies were missing limbs, others had burns all over them and the rest seemed to be covered in a strange black substance. Trying to put them out of her mind, Chrys turned back to look at the one door in the room which was straight ahead of her. Then she heard those same heavy footsteps from the barn and her only reaction was to close her eyes in fear. The door opened and then closed immediately after but then there was silence; she kept her eyes closed for a minute before hesitantly opening them.  
     Jack was in front of her, a little too close for her own comfort, with what looked like what might have once been a garden tool that was turned into a spiky weapon of death.  
    “Awake, are you?” He teased as he petted the top of her head; a chill ran down her spine.  
    “What the hell is wrong with you?” She spat back at him, trying to hide how scared she really was.   
    “Hey now, don’t be so rude. My precious little girl seems to really like you and is jus' dying to have another sister to play with. You better not go disappointing her now." He warned, his voice going deeper and more threatening sounding as he spoke.

    "Zoe? Why the hell would Zoe want me as her sister?" 

    "You dumb stupid bitch!" He roared at her, spitting flying at her face. "That...Zoe...ain't part of this family no more. Such an ungrateful child, didn't appreciate all that was done for her. Evie's my darling girl now. She's blessed us all with her gift."

    "You really have gone crazy, haven't you?"

    "I ought to smash your face-" Then he stopped and looked off into the corner of the room as if there was someone there. "Oh of course not. Daddy wouldn't want to ruin your chance to play make-up with her."

    "Who the hell are you talking to? What happened to you Jack? You used to be so nice."

     "Don't insult me, Girl. You should just be thanking me for not killing you yet.” He clearly was pleased with himself for having her in such a vulnerable state in front of him. Chrys ignored his statement and, instead of answering, she scanned the room as if there might be another exit that she missed. Jack followed her stare and laughed.  
    “If you’re looking for something to save you, you’re shit out of luck. It’s just you and me down here, Hon.”  
    “Lucky me.” She mumbled.  
    “That’s right, you are lucky!” He answered back happily, “and if you’re good and do as I say I won’t kill you...or your little boy toy.”   
    Chrys wanted so bad to viciously correct him that Lucas wasn’t just her toy and get back at him by saying that their relationship was deeper than the one between him and Marguerite but she knew that would only earn her a possible life threatening hit from Jack. She didn’t know if he mentioned his son at the end simply for an added threat but she didn’t particularly want to test him to find out.  
    Or at least test him too hard.  
    “You wouldn’t kill your son.” She tried, thinking it might strike a chord with him.  
    “He’s only a walkin' lump of idiot; it wouldn’t be a great loss. ” He said, proving her theory wrong. "Maybe Eveline might miss 'im though, she'd be losing family, poor thing."  
    “You’re sick.” She told him.  
    “Hm, I feel fine. But now don’t you even worry 'bout it. I’m sure you’ll be a good lil' girl for me and it won’t be a problem, right? All you gotta do is accept Evie's gift and it'll all be fine.”  
    “I ain’t your little girl.”  
    “You’re right, I can hardly call you little. Not with that pudding stomach. What has that boy been feeding you anyway? You used to always be so skinny.” He said, poking her pudgy stomach with the handle part of the tool. Chrys snarled in response.  
    “Don’t you dare hurt-“ She started but didn’t finish.  
    “Hurt what? Your tiny little feelings? Sorry girl but someone had to man up an' tell you the truth.”   
    Chrys looked down at the floor to avoid having to look at him but Jack lifted her chin up and forced eye contact with her. Her lack of response made him suspicious.  
    “Hurt what?” He repeated slowly and menacingly. Chrys thought carefully before answering. She could’ve simply lied to him but it wouldn’t have gotten her anywhere so she decided to tell him the truth and hope for the best. A tear rolled down her cheek as she spoke.  
    “Don’t hurt my baby.”


	8. The Reunion

    “A baby, you say? My boy done knocked you up, has he? Ha, I didn’t think he had it in him.”

    “Shut up.” She told him firmly. Any fear she felt of him has vanished and all that remained was a deep desire to kick him in the crotch and get out of that musty room.

    “Well look at you being the all-protective mommy! You been practicing on Lucas, have you? But I guess you also have that little brat of yours, what was his name again? Tony?”

    “It’s Toby.” Chrys growled at him.

    “Ah yes, Lucas’ reminder that he couldn’t get his girlfriend pregnant and someone else had to do it for him.”

    “Shut the hell up, old man!” She screamed at him. Within a second he had his fingers grabbing her face, squishing her cheeks.

    “You watch yer tongue or I’ll cut it off.” He threatened before viciously letting her go. Giving her stomach one last look of vague disbelief, he turned and left the room. For the first time since he walked in, Chrys breathed a sigh of relief and closed her eyes; she stayed like that for while, somehow enjoying the solitude, before the sound of the door opening once again met her ears.

    “Who the hell are you?” A tired voice asked. Chrys opened her eyes to see a young-looking blonde man in front of her. The first thing her eyes were drawn to was his crudely stapled-on hand and the watch he wore; it looked similar to one Lucas sometimes had on his wrist in-between trips into the mines. Who was this man who could make it down to wherever she was without getting himself murdered?

    “Did Jack put you down here? Or was it Lucas?” He continued with some more questions.

    “Have you seen Lucas around?” She said, ignoring his questions.

    “Are we going to get anywhere with this conversation? I've had a bad enough night as it is, I don't need this.” He pondered aloud, not expecting her to answer.

    “I feel ya there. What’s your name?”

    “Ethan Winters. Now, who the hell are you and how did you end up in here?”

    “My name is Chrys; I was knocked unconscious by Jack a few days ago, at least I think it was a few days, I’m not really sure, and I woke up in here. He paid me a short visit but left a little while before you came in, you just missed him.”

    “Oh I’ve seen enough of him tonight, trust me. So why are you here anyway? In this crazy house, I mean. Or did Lucas trick you into coming here?”

    “I came here on my own.” She answered, beginning to get defensive. “I came to see Lucas.”

    “Came to see him? That murdering psycho clown? You’re insane if you’d actually want to be around him on purpose.”

    “It’s none of your business what my reasons are for wanting to see him. What about you? What brought you to this hellhole?”

    “I came to find my wife. She went missing three years ago but I got an E-mail from her a few days ago and she said she was here and for me to come find her.”

    “Wow, she must hate you.” Chrys joked, not being able to control herself.

    “I’m starting to think she might.” Ethan answered with a more solemn tone that surprised her. She guessed there was something more to the story that he hadn't told her.

    “Well, how about this,” Chrys began, “why don’t you let me out of here and I’ll help you in any way I can, although that might be a bit limited.” She added as she looked down at her growing belly with concern; a stab of hunger ripped through her stomach, making her cringe in pain which she tried her best to hide from the man in front of her. If he caught on to her discomfort he didn't show it; instead, Ethan only nodded and then proceeded to cut at the tape with a knife. When she was completely free, Chrys stood and did a full body stretch, her bones made cracking sounds as she did so.

     “Ah shit.” She exclaimed as she felt her whole body ache. What I wouldn’t do for a warm bed right now, she thought to herself, and to be home with my kids.

    The pair then left the room and Chrys followed Ethan through a series of hallways and putrid smelling rooms to eventually reach the main hall. It was then that she realized it was the basement that Jack had her tied up in, no doubt close to that morgue she had become so scared of. She pushed the thought of it out of her mind and then proceeded to make a beeline for the door that led to the courtyard.

    “Where are you going?” Ethan asked before she could leave.

    “I have to go find Lucas.”

    “You said you’d help me.”

    Chrys thought for a moment before answering him. “Lucas mentioned something about there being a grenade launcher in the closet off of the drawing room, you’ll need a special key to get in there, but that should at least help you protect yourself.” She told him before slipping out the door.

    “Well at least that’s something, I guess.” Ethan sighed and headed for the staircase that would lead him to no doubt another horror.

 

    “Lucas, open up!” Chrys yelled at the camera above the barn door that she was hammering on with her fist. “Come on! Lucas please!”

    Then she suddenly started to panic. She crouched down and put her head between her hands, covering her ears. Out of nowhere, the idea of Jack coming after her brought back memories of when she had been kidnapped by another old man when she was sixteen, the one they used to think was Toby's father. It came back to her: the pain, how rough he was with her and the feeling of pure terror when she dared to think it would never end and she wouldn’t ever see Lucas or her family again. The memory tore at her and she began to hyperventilate.

    “Chrys, it’s ok, I’m here now.” A familiar voice appeared out of nowhere and comforted her. Chrys lifted her head to see Lucas smiling at her; she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck.

    “I was so scared, I thought he might come after me again.” She muffled into the shoulder of his hoodie, not even sure who exactly she was referring to. Lucas pulled her closer to him.

    “You’re fine; I ain’t gonna let nothing else happen to you. I tried to save you, to get you out of that basement but the old man was constantly on my tail, there was no way I could rescue you and have the both of us make it out safely.” He explained. “C’mon, let’s get you inside.”

    He guided her through the barn and into his office which, at this point, felt like a home to Chrys. She felt safe and oddly comfortable in those small four walls with only his equipment and that same old hard-as-a-slab-of-rock couch. He sat her down on the discoloured cushions, landed himself beside her with his back leaning on the armrest and his body facing her’s, and pulled her onto him, extending his legs so that he was fully lying and all of her was laying on top of him. She buried her face in his stomach, causing him to laugh.

    “The old man scared you good, didn’t he?” Lucas asked but she had already fallen asleep in his lap. “It’s alright babe, you rest up. I got some shit I have to do anyway.” She told her sleeping body. He stayed there with her for a while before he carefully lifted her enough to be able to slide out from under her, laid her back down, took off his hoodie and wrapped it around her like a blanket. Lucas took one last look at her before leaving the room; he took in all her beauty and how peaceful she looked while she slept.

    “I love you Chrys.” He said and left to prepare the barn for a guest.

 

    Chrys was out for several hours before being woken up.

    She didn’t notice Ethan come through the room and stop and stare at her.

    She didn’t hear the commotion from the boathouse that was Ethan killing a mutated Jack.

    She didn’t know he had also ended Marguerite’s life in the greenhouse before ever coming to the barn.

    And she didn’t know Lucas had escaped to the mines.

  

    “Chrys!” The walkie-talkie called several times from the desk across the room. “Chrys, are you there?”

    “Yeah.” She answered aloud from the couch before realizing it was coming from the walkie-talkie. Feeling a little stupid, she slowly got up and went over to pick up the device.

    “Yeah, I’m here.” She said into it.

    “Oh thank God! I was beginning t'worry about'cha.” Lucas’s voice told her. “Listen babe, we gotta get out of here. There are people watching the house and they’ll kill on the spot if they find us. I’ve been thinking up a plan and-“

    “What about your family?” She interrupted.

    “My family? My father kidnaps you and you worry about saving him and my mother? Chrys, you can’t possibly-“

    “They’re just being controlled by that Eveline bitch, right? I know the real them Lucas, we should try to save them too.”

    “Chrys, I’m pretty sure they’re dead.” Then a pause, “We’re on our own.”

    “I-I don’t believe that. I’ll go find them and you get whatever you need to ready and then we’ll leave…all of us. Together.”

    “I tol' you already, they’re dead.”

    “Then I guess I’ll go say good-bye.” She said and dropped the walkie-talkie back onto the table, ignoring Lucas yelling at her to stay there until he could come get her.

    Chrys made her way out of the barn and over to the gates that led to the greenhouse. She didn’t know if Marguerite would be there but she figured it was the best place to start looking.

    “Marguerite? Are you here?” She called and at first there was no response but then a moan came from one of the inner rooms of the building. Chrys slowly and hesitantly advanced towards the sound; she had to maneuver around pieces of debris and glass that covered the floor which slowed her down even more.

    Finally, she entered the room where the noise was coming from. In the center of the room, surrounded by a circle of broken pieces of clay, was Marguerite lying in the fetal position. Chrys rushed over to her lover’s mother and put a hand on her back.

    “Marguerite! Are you okay?”

    “Chrys? How am I-” The older woman mumbled but went quiet as she lifted her gaze to examine the girl in front of her. “What are you doing here? It’s not safe, especially for someone who’s carrying a baby.”

    “What? How can you tell? It seems like everyone else just thinks I’ve put on weight.”

    “Oh Honey, there are things a mother just knows.” She told Chrys and then gently patted her knee. “The same way I'm sure you knew not long after it was concieved. Help me up, would you?” Chrys did and after a moment Marguerite was standing on her own, although teetering a bit.

    “She’s gone, ain’t she?”

    “Um, who exactly?”

    “Eveline. I can’t feel her anymore. I bet it was that boy Ethan that finished her off.” Marguerite wondered aloud but Chrys said nothing. She couldn’t make sense of anything that was happening, especially not with whoever this Eveline person was; she decided her and Lucas would have to have a long talk when everything settled down and make him explain everything that happened to him and his family.

    “Come on Sweetie, let’s get out of here. I think we’ll find Jack in the boathouse.” The older woman said.

    “How do you know that?”  Chrys asked.

    “I just do.” She answered, hooked her arm with Chrys’ and began leading them outside. As suspicious as she was about the whole situation, Chrys went along with it in silence.

    The two of them left the greenhouse and headed back over to barn, whose once-upon-a-time-was-always-locked door was now wide open. They passed through it and walked out onto the raggedy wooden bridge that led to the boathouse, but not before Chrys grabbed the walkie-talkie from off the desk.

    “This doesn’t look very safe to walk on.” Chrys commented but Marguerite continued on as if she didn’t hear her. Left with no other choice, Chrys followed after her, cringing with every creak and groan that came from the platform beneath her. She breathed a sigh of relief when they finally reached the boathouse and were standing on solid ground. Marguerite seemed to know exactly where Jack would be because the moment they stepped inside she headed straight into the main part of the building without any hesitation. Chrys followed her into a massive room that looked like someone or something had thrown a massive rock into it; she guessed that the room had once been two different floors but had been reduced to one big room when the second floor was destroyed, but by what?

    Chrys brought her mind back from her wandering thoughts and to the current situation. She saw that Marguerite was already climbing down a ladder to the bottom floor on the opposite side of the room. The ground was flooded for the most part; there were only a few places that weren’t touched by water. Chrys directed her eyes down to the flooded area and scanned the water for anything of interest. Meanwhile, Marguerite was wading her way to the center of the room.

    And sure enough, there was Jack.

    His body floated face up in the muddy water and moved in rhythm with the small waves that his wife made as she moved. At first Chrys feared that Lucas been right and his father was dead but a part of her still doubted it. If Marguerite was still alive, what could drive her to believe any different about Jack? Sure there was common sense and the bigger picture of how insane the situation, but apparently those were only minor details. She watched as Marguerite managed him into a sitting position, got behind him and dragged him under his arms to drier ground. Chrys rushed over to the ladder and made her down to go help her take care of the old man; once on the ground, she ran over and knelt beside him like Marguerite.

    “Is he alive?” Chrys asked.

    “Yeah he’s fine, give it a second.”

    Chrys waited, but for a minute nothing happened.  She was beginning to worry when suddenly Jack sprung to life, coughing up a bucketful of water.

    “Aw, what the hell?” He coughed and then looked up at his wife. “Marguerite? Darling, you’re alive!”

    “Thought you’d gotten rid of me? ‘Cause let me tell you, I ain’t that easy to shake off.”

    “Oh no no no, Honey, I’d never want to be rid of you. You know I love you.” He told her, holding out his hand for her

    “Aw, Jack.” She sighed and took his hand. Chrys smiled at their display of affection and silently hoped that one day she and Lucas could be like that. Wanting to give them some alone time, she left through a door that was close by. On the other side was what seemed to be the pier, which was in much better shape than the bridge she had encountered to get into the boathouse. She made her way down the wooden path when about half way she noticed someone sitting on the edge of pier, staring down into the swamp water. It took Chrys a moment to identify the person as Lucas’ younger sister Zoe. She appeared much more exhausted and unhappy than Chrys remembered of her; I guess they all really were affected by that 'little girl', Chrys thought to herself.

    “Zoe!” Chrys called from where she was standing. Zoe jumped in surprise and quickly turned around, bringing her legs back up onto the pier.

    “Chrys? Is that you?” She questioned as she stood and made her way towards her brother’s girlfriend. “What are you doing here?”

    “Your mother and I were looking for your dad and now they’re catching up on things.” Chrys said, realizing how vague she sounded.

    “What? I thought they were dead.”

    “So did Lucas, yet here we are.

    “Zoe?” Cried Jack’s voice from the doorway behind Chrys. She stepped out of the way so that there was nothing between Zoe and her father. Zoe began backing up towards the end of the dock; after everything she went through since Eveline had shown up, she didn’t trust that her father was back to his normal self and wouldn’t try to kill her. Who could blame her? Jack must have noticed this because he stopped a few feet away from her and his expression quickly changed to sadness.

    “Zoe, baby girl, I’m so sorry. I-I hurt you real bad, I know.”

    “We both did.” Marguerite chimed in before walking up beside her husband and putting her hand on his shoulder. Curiosity got the best of Zoe and she couldn’t help herself not to question her parents.

    “Is she gone, Mama? Is that little bitch gone?”

    “Yeah, she is.”

    And then for the first time in three years, Zoe ran up to her parents and pulled the two of them into a hug.

 

    Soon after they broke apart and the tears were wiped away, the walkie-talkie that was hanging from the pocket of Chrys’ pants began beeping. She pulled it off and held it up to examine it; there was a light flashing on it but she had no idea what it meant. She started pressing every button and switch on the small device until she finally heard Lucas’ voice.

    “Is anyone there at all?” He complained, sounding frustrated.

    “I’m here.” She answered, the rest of the Bakers now looking at her.

    “Chrys? Where have you been? I’ve been trying to contact you fer the past hour! I got everything ready, we can go now.” He explained.

    “Lucas, I got your family with me.”

    “What? But- but I thought-“

    “Let me see that.” Jack told her and took the walkie-talkie. “Hey son, it’s your old man.”

    There was a pause before Lucas answered.

    “Dad? That really you?”

    “Yeah Lucas, it is. I’d love t'catch up but I’m guessing we won’t be able to stay here for much longer. Where are you?”

    “In the mines. You guys can meet me here and we can get the hell out of this place.”

    “Alright, we’ll be there as soon as we can.” He said and handed the walkie-talkie back to Chrys. “Let’s get going everyone.”

 

    When they reached the entrance to the mine, Chrys had Lucas talk through the device and walk them through how to get to him. After navigating their way through tripwires and various other explosives, they reached the lab that Lucas was set up in. Chrys rushed into the room and practically jumped into his arms.

    “Lucas!” She exclaimed into his shoulder as she hugged him tight. His body was freezing cold which made her feel bad for wearing his sweater; she had already began to unzip it when he realized what she was doing and pulled her hand away from the zipper.

    “Stop that, you need to keep warm more than me.”

    “That’s not tr-“ She started but he cut her off.

    “Yes it is, now can you please just keep it on?” He begged. Chrys nodded shyly and then diverted her gaze to the floor. Lucas put an arm around her shoulders and moved her to the side of him; he directed his attention to his family across the room. “And can someone please explain to me how the hell y’all are still alive?” Lucas snapped.

    “It must have something to do with Eveline dying, maybe her death reversed everything.” Marguerite suggested.

    “That sounds impossible; she was a bio-weapon not some fairytale witch.” Lucas said

    “Does it really matter?” His mother questioned. “Now Chrys, isn’t there something you wanna tell Lucas?” She asked, trying to change the subject.

    “You know, I think it can wait.” She said nervously.

    “Just get it out and tell 'im already.” Jack added.

    “Tell me what? What’s going on?” He asked, turning to his girlfriend.

    Chrys sighed. This was going to be painful. “Lucas…I’m uh...I’m pregnant. “

    “Pregnant?! Wait, so your stomach-“

    “Isn’t this big because all I do is eat? No, it isn’t.”

    “That isn’t what I was gonna say.” He whispered.

    “Then what were you going to say?” She asked, getting romantically close to his face.

    “I was just gonna ask if that’s what I felt when we were lying on the couch together last night. I was resting my hand on your stomach while you slept and I thought I felt something move.” He explained.

    “Oh, well yeah, that’d be it.” She said, feeling bad for getting angry at him.

    “I’m gonna be a dad.” Was all Lucas could manage to say.

    “You already are one, remember?”

    “Oh right, sorry.”

    Jack took a step towards them.

    “Um, what d'ya mean you’re already a dad?” He asked them. Lucas turned to Chrys in hopes that she’d answer for him but her eyes told him he was on his own for this one.

    “Uh, turns out that Toby is actually my son.” He said sheepishly, taking multiple pauses during the sentence.

    “I knew it!” Zoe exclaimed and Lucas shot her a warning glance.

    “We all sort of did.” Jack stated, causing Lucas' cheeks to turn red. “But we can talk about this later. Let’s just worry about getting out of here.”

    “Right! Before we go there’s something we gotta do.” Lucas announced and then walked over to a table that was behind him. He picked up off the table what appeared to be a syringe with a strange looking substance in it. Lucas brought it over to Zoe and put it in her hand. “Here, it’s the last bit of serum for whatever Eveline infected us all with.”

    “Why don’t you use it on yourself?”

    “I was cured long ago. I’m guessing mom and dad are no longer infected so you’re the only one left.”

    “You never cease to amaze me, Dum-Dum." She said and threw her arms around his neck. "Thank you Lucas.” She whispered into his ear; his eyes that had been wide open in shock from her hug softened into an eased half-open position..

    “Uh huh.”  He mumbled and went back over to Chrys after Zoe had pulled away from him. “How ‘bout we get out of here now?”

 

    A half hour later and Jack, Marguerite and Zoe were squished into the back seat of Chrys’ car while Lucas was sitting in the passenger seat. A helicopter flew by overhead and Lucas hoped they were hidden enough by the trees so they wouldn’t be seen; he didn’t know much about the company whose logo was displayed  on the side of the helicopter but he heard on his radio that they were told to shoot anyone they found alive on the Baker property. Along with the rest of his family, he was beginning to get nervous.

    “Can she just get in here already?” Zoe whined.

    “Shut up.” Lucas snapped.

    “That’s enough you two.” Jack interrupted and just as he did Chrys entered the car, sitting herself in the driver’s side. She put the phone in her hand into the cup holder and then turned to face the others in the car.

“Alright, so my parents have gone on a trip with my kids for a few days so the house is empty. We can head for there now and I don’t know about you guys, but when we get there I’m taking a nice long nap.”


	9. The Move

Three months later

    Since the Bakers had returned home to Louisiana to fix up their property, Chrys had moved back into the house that she used to share with Jeff, her first husband. It had been long since abandoned by him and it was the only place Chrys could think of to go with her kids. They had stayed at her parents house, along with the Bakers, for a few days before leaving, much to her mother's begging for them to stay. Magnolia knew that that house brought nothing but bad memories for Chrys and the kids because of Chrys' ex-husband but she needed some time with just her children. At first, the house made both her and her daughter Celes feel uncomfortable since they had so many bad memories of the place, but the lack of Jeff being there helped a little. Knowing it was most likely a temporary fix helped too.

    Celes sat in a kitchen chair as her mother braided her hair; she was enjoying the absence of her younger brothers and Toby who were out fishing with their grandfather. Despite the contentment she felt with getting some alone time with her mother, she still felt uneasy. Her hands nervously played with the elastics that would eventually tie off the ends of the pigtail braids, something was weighing on her mind.

    “Mommy, can I ask you something?” 

    “Sure Baby, what’s up?”

    “Is Lucas gonna come back?” She asked, a slight trembling in her tone,  and Chrys knew exactly why. Every new father figure in the little girl’s life seemed to disappear just as soon as they came around, destroying her trust in men. Chrys was aware that she was partly to blame for Celes' distrust; was it not her own fault that she had married two different men that both ended up being abusive and dangerous? As much as she believed Celes didn’t have to worry with Lucas, Chrys couldn’t even blame the poor girl.

    “Of course he is, Sweetie. Lucas is different, he actually does care for me and-“

    “You mean unlike my daddy, and the other guy.” She retorted, not bothering to use either of their names.

    “That’s not what I was going to say Celes. You don’t even know Lucas yet, but you’ll like him, trust me.”

    “You’re just saying that because he put a baby in you. Grandma always said that carrying a baby made you dumb.” Celes raised her voice as she spoke. Chrys couldn’t believe what she heard her daughter say.

    “Celes Sierra Woods, that is enough!”

    “So I’m a Woods again? Since when did you want me to have Daddy’s name?”

    “I said enough!” Chrys yelled at her daughter. The topic of what the little girl’s last name was was a delicate one; neither of them wanted to be reminded of the man they never wished to see again, but it wasn’t that simple, or cheap, to have her name changed. Chrys had enough trouble with trying to get her own last name changed back to her maiden name, she guessed it might be worse to change a child's.

    Celes gave her mother one more angry stare before jumping off the chair and running out of the room into the entry hallway and up the stairs that were just outside the kitchen. Chrys listened to her daughter's stomping as it made its way into her bedroom down the hall upstairs and slamming the door. Chrys breathed a heavy sigh of frustration before leaving the kitchen and standing at the bottom of the stairs, juggling the thought of going up there herself to talk to her daughter. Deciding it would be best to give Celes some time to calm down, Chrys slowly made her way across the hall and into the living room to sit in her comfy recliner.

    “If I wasn’t four months pregnant right now I’d so be down for a drink right now.” She grumbled to herself as she rubbed her growing stomach.  Chrys rarely drank and even if she did, it was only after a really bad day; as frustrated as she was with the argument with Celes, it wasn’t enough to drive her to drink, however it was enough to warrant a relaxing long nap. She was about to lean back and close her eyes when there was a loud knock at the front door.

    “Oh what now?” She complained as she slowly heaved herself to her feet and made her way to the front door. There was another knock before she could open it.

    “Holy shit I’m here alrea…oh, Lucas!” She exclaimed upon opening the door and seeing who it was; he must have been able to tell that there was something wrong since his eyes immediately set into a concerned stare.

    “Is this a bad time?” Her lover asked worryingly. He looked much healthier than she had last saw him; colour had returned to his face and the rims of his eyes were noticeably less dark than they had been. Seeing him like this lightened up her current frustrated mood.

    “No, it’s fine. Come on in.” She told him, stepping aside for him to enter.

 

    “This is a nice little place you have here.” Lucas commented as he followed her into the kitchen. “I thought I was lost on the drive here but I eventually figured out my way.”

    “Yeah, that’s the problem with living deep in the woods.” She joked.

    “Ain’t as far back as our place.” He joked back.

    “That is true. How is your place coming along?”

    “Done, actually. Main house, guest house, everything.” Lucas answered. Chrys couldn’t believe what he had just told her.

    “Are you serious? There was like a few years worth of repairs to do! There’s no way it’s all done.” Chrys exclaimed in disbelief.

    “Dad worked pretty much non-stop on the house, inside and out, since we got home, and mom did a lot of cleaning too. Zoe helped with both. I fixed up most of the guest house on my own.” He said and showed her his hands, which were worn and covered in scratches, as proof of his work; Chrys reached for a hand to examine it closer.

    “You should’ve worn gloves.” She told him. Lucas simply shrugged and smiled at her; he pulled her into a hug and lifted her chin with his index finger.

    “There’s actually something I came here to ask you.” He said, not taking his eyes away from her’s.

    “And what would that be?”

    “Well… since the guest house is now livable, Dad gave me the okay to live there and I was, uh, wondering if you might want to join me.” He said nervously. Chrys looked up at him with a concerned expression.

    “You want me to move in with you?” she asked while stepping away from him. “I dunno Lucas, it’s just-“

    “You’re scared of me.” Lucas offered hastily.

    “No, no I could never be scared of you, trust me on that. I don’t care about what you did during those three years, even if I should. I especially don't care about whatever might be wrong with your brain. No, it’s just that I’m worried about the kids, specifically Celes.”

    “What about me?” Came a voice from the doorway as Lucas was opening his mouth to speak. Chrys and Lucas turned to see a red-eyed Celes standing there; it was obvious that she had been crying. Her mother ran over to her, crouched down and put her hands on the little girl’s shoulders.

    “Celes, Baby, what’s wrong?” Chrys asked, Lucas now standing behind her; Celes lifted her gaze up to him.

    “I don’t wanna be here no more mommy, I wanna go live somewhere else. All I can think about when I’m here is Daddy and how he was always yelling and hurting you, I don’t want that anymore.” She cried and then flung herself into her mother’s embrace.

    “It’s alright Baby Girl, we can get out of here.” Chrys whispered in her daughter’s ear. She felt Lucas petting her hair as she rubbed Celes’ back and finally realized where it was that she belonged.

 

    That night when her father brought the boys back, she sat them all down in the living room to give them the news. Lucas had gone home an hour before to beat the sun setting but not before going over with Chrys all the furniture in the house that they would need to move to Louisiana. She silently wished he could have been there so that the kids, especially the younger twins, could better understand where they were moving to and why, but she decided she could manage it without him. With all four kids on the couch: five-year-old Toby,  three-year-old Celes and the two-year-old twins Thorin and Kili who looked more like they were four-year-olds, Chrys dragged her chair from the corner of the room to in front of the coffee table, which was in front of the couch.

    Chrys took a moment to take in the four young people sitting in front of her. Celes was the one who resembled Chrys the most; they had matching light brown hair, the same colour eyes and similar facial features. The boys on the other hand all took after their fathers when it came to their looks; Toby had Lucas' nose and dirty blonde hair, while the twins had inherited their father's jet black here and fair complexion. Oddly enough, all four of them had taken after her with her abundance of energy, especially the boys. They were bouncing on the couch while Celes sat in the middle of them with her head down and was rubbing her feet together, but Chrys wasn’t so sure about what her daughter seemed upset about.

    “Alright guys settle down, your poor sister is probably already missing the silence from this afternoon.” She joked which caused a smirk on Celes’ face. “Now that you’re all sitting here I have something I need to tell you all, no, more of ask you guys.”

    “Go for it.” Toby encouraged.

    “Wha’ is it?” Kili asked.

    “Yeah, tell us!” Thorin yelled at a volume that was too much for Celes to handle.

    “Shut up!” She screamed at him which, in fact, shut him up immediately but also turned on the faucets behind his eyes. What was supposed to be a peaceful and easy family meeting had just turned into an emotional brawl.

    “Don’t yell at him!” Kili, who was normally the more passive twin, screamed back into his sister’s face, spraying her with spit at the same time.

    “He yelled into my ear first!  You’re both being stupid!”

    “Okay that’s enough.”  Chrys told them firmly, “Celes, you already know what this is about so why don’t you go up to your room or take a bath or something?”

    Celes nodded and left the room without a word and only a small glare towards her brothers. Kili shot an evil look towards her as he put an arm around his sniffling twin. When she was out of the room, Chrys sighed and took a deep breath before continuing to talk to the boys.

    “Alright, I’d appreciate it if we could do this without any more outbursts." This was met by several nods of agreement. "I’ll start by telling you that Lucas came by this afternoon to visit and he asked Mommy a big question, one that affects you guys.” She paused for a moment to see if any of them would make a comment but they only nodded once again at her to go on. “What he wanted to know was if we’d want to go live with him in Louisiana. Now, your sister has already agreed to it and, personally, I want nothing more to get out this house, but I won’t completely ignore it if you guys are against it.”

    The three of them on the couch exchanged glances for a moment, as if conversing without opening their mouths, before turning back to their mother.

    “We’ve got no problem with that.” They all said in unison.

    And for the first time that day, Chrys felt relieved.

 

    And so, two days later they were busy with packing and moving furniture onto a moving truck that Lucas had rented for them. Each of the four kids were excited to help and be useful; despite their young ages, Chrys wasn’t able to stop her youngest sons from helping with the bigger things.

    “Be careful with that!” Chrys warned her son as she watched him try to pick up a box full of glasses which wasn’t overly  heavy for the big-for-his-age boy. The problem was that he was lifting it from the flaps that were already torn and Chrys' mind couldn't help but imagine it all falling to the ground and shattering.

    “I got it mom!” Kili yelled back to her, but that didn’t make her confident.

    “Thorin! Can you come over here and help your brother?” She asked her other son who was carrying a cheap lamp to the moving truck and holding it as if it was the most precious thing in the world.

    “Yep, one sec.” He called back.

    The moving process had been relatively painless for everyone, except for the few times the baby inside Chrys decided it wanted to play a game of soccer. Marguerite, who joined the moving party along with her husband, had restricted Chrys to sitting on the couch putting into boxes picture frames and other light objects that Celes brought to her after Jack had taken them off the wall. "Don't you get up off that couch, no need for you to overwork you and that baby" she had said. Eventually, Chrys got too bored and ventured to take a break from it; she was standing near the white fence that surrounded the yard and watching Kili try to lift a medium sized box. Suddenly, Lucas appeared behind her and loosely hugged her below the chest.    

    “I see our baby's growing nicely.” He commented. Chrys looked down at her protruding stomach and laid her own hand on top of his.

    “Yeah, she’s doing alright.”

    “She?” He asked.

    “I think it’s a she, I’m pretty good at guessing these things. I mean, I was right about each of the others." Chrys told him, momentarily thinking back to each of her pregnancies. "Would you mind having a girl?”

    “I’d love it no matter what it is. It? Okay, maybe I shoulda said them." Lucas spoke faster with each word, feeling slightly and unnecessarily embarrassed "Shit, I ain't good at this. Anyway, I do like the idea of having a girl…my little girl.” He said, softly digging his nose into the hair behind her ear. Chrys moved her hands up to the back of his head and pulled him closer so that he could kiss her cheek.

    “I love you babe.” He said quietly into her ear.

    “Mommy! There’s more stuff to put into boxes!” Celes called from the house, interrupting their moment.

    “Always more work to do.” She joked and they both laughed. Lucas watched her walk back into the house and smiled at the thought of them finally living together, but his thoughts were disrupted by the sound of Thorin and Kili panicking over the box of glasses. When he looked over at them Kili had very little grip on the box while Thorin was pushing too much of the box’s weight onto his twin. Shaking his head at the scene, Lucas ran over to help them out.

 

     A night and day passed and everything was finally situated on the truck, ready to be transported to Louisiana. Excitement ran wild through the near empty house the morning of the move; the moment they were told it was time to go, Thorin and Kili raced to the truck to drive with Lucas, leaving Celes and Toby with their mother. For a second, Toby seemed upset that he wasn’t able to have some time with his newly confirmed father but he reluctantly didn’t make a scene out of it, knowing that his mother was stressed enough as it was.

  

     A night and day passed and everything was finally situated on the truck and ready to be transported to Louisiana. Excitement ran wild through the near empty house the morning of the move; the moment they were told it was time to go, Thorin and Kili raced to the truck to drive with Lucas, leaving Celes and Toby with their mother. For a second, Toby seemed upset that he wasn’t able to have some time with his newly confirmed father; not wanting to cause any more stress for his mother, he chose to keep it to himself.

    While Lucas and the boys were driving away, Chrys and the children left with her took a moment to stare at the house. The house that brought to mind so many painful memories for the three of them, the house they lived in with a dangerous man, the house where they lived in constant fear of what he might do to them. I’d burn it down if I could, Chrys thought to herself. Celes latched herself onto her mother’s leg, hugging her tight for protection as if her father might magically walk out the front door and attack them both. It was that moment that Chrys realized it was time to leave.

 

    Chrys stepped into the old guest house, now her own house, and stood there for a moment to take it in. The torn wallpaper and trashed hallways she once walked through a few months ago were now clean and freshly painted. There were walls that were ready to have frames hung up on them, a bright living room to contain her ever-comfy chair and a backyard big enough for her kids to play in. The new life she was starting brought with it a breath of fresh air and a feeling of happiness she hadn’t felt since before that day with Lucas in the park all those years ago.  In another room, Lucas was helping Kili open a heavily taped box of curtains and Chrys smiled as she listened to the man’s calm and encouraging way of speaking to the young boy. It melted her heart to see the admiration her children had for Lucas and how much he loved them back; she even dared to think that the happy family she always wanted was finally forming.

    And she could do it all with Lucas.

 

One month later

   

    “Look Lucas, as your father I gotta ask you something.” Jack told his son. He had invited him into the drawing room of the mansion under the pretense of sharing a couple beers although Lucas didn’t believe him in the slightest.

    “What is it?” Lucas groaned, wishing his father would get on with what he really wanted to say.

    “This is important Lucas, you can't jus' brush this under the rug and hope it'll happen by itself."

    "What the shittin' hell! Just say it already!" Jack sighed at his son's anger. Shaking his head, Jack continued on.

    "When are you gonna ask that girl to marry you? You can’t make her wait forever you know.”

    And there it was.

    “Oh c’mon!" Lucas snarled. "Leave me alone, I’ll do it eventually. I don’t see why we gotta be worrying about that, we’re happy as we are.”

    “She’s waited long enough for you Lucas. What about all those years she was still in love with you even though she thought you were never coming back? She’s pregnant with your child for God’s sake!”

    “Don’t worry about it Dad, I’ll marry her eventually.”

    “And when will that be? Why are you so afraid to marry her?”

    “I’m not afraid.” He snapped, a little too fast to sound convincing.

    “Look Son, I watched you grow up and, trust me, I know when you’re afraid of something, especially when it involves something, or someone, you love. So what is it?” He persisted. Lucas pondered the idea of avoiding the question again but there was too much anger building up in him.

    “Alright fine! You wanna know why I haven’t proposed to her yet? It’s ‘cause I’m too damn terrified that I can’t be the man she needs. I left her alone for so long, I hurt her and she ended up – now what the hell is so funny?” He stopped, noticing that his father was cracking up with laughter.

    “Not the man she needs? Lucas I’ve watched that girl when she’s around you and it’s not difficult t'see that you’re everything she needs.”

    “What in the hell are you talking about?”

    “Not only does she look brighter and happier since she moved here but there’s nothing but pure love for you in those eyes of her’s. Her father even told me he’s never seen her so alive since she came here. That’s without mentioning how much those kids of her’s love you and wants you to be their father; I think she wants it too. She’s waiting on you, Son and you better not miss your chance.”

    “Maybe you’re right.” Lucas whispered, partly regretting that he was agreeing with his father. “But where would I get a ring? I’ve only been making barely enough money to live by recently.”

    “Go talk to your mother, she might be able to help you.” Jack advised in his more often occurring fatherly tone, patted his son on the back and left him alone to think their conversation over.


	10. The Beginning

    Lucas sat at the kitchen table in his parents’ house, with them beside him, with a notepad in front of him and a red pen in his hand. Each of them had a mug of coffee in front of them and Jack was reading the newspaper from the day before.  The pen in Lucas’ hand was being drummed on the paper out of frustration and hopelessness for the task at hand; for a moment, Jack and Marguerite exchanged looks of worry for their son’s attitude and were wracking their brains for ideas to help him, Marguerite more than Jack. Finally not being able to continue any longer, Lucas threw his hands up in the air, flinging the pen across the room in the process.

    “How am I supposed to plan a surprise party for Chrys?!” He yelled to no one in particular.

    “Honey, relax, it’ll be fine; she’ll enjoy whatever you put together.” His mother encouraged with a nod of agreement from Jack, without looking up from the paper. Lucas got up from the wooden chair, walked over to the wall beside the window and proceeded to bang his head against it.

    “I. Can’t. Do. It.” He spoke with each word in between a hit, both his speech and banging getting louder as he continued.

    “Lucas stop that! You’re beating yourself up for nothing.” Marguerite scolded.

    “I just want this party to be perfect, it needs to be perfect.” He moaned as he returned to his chair, “it’s the least I can do for her. She deserves only the best from me.”

     “I think you may be putting too much weight and thought into this.” Jack commented, finally putting down the newspaper and glancing over at his son. “Chrys won’t care what you do; she isn’t even expecting a party for Christ’s sake!”

     “Which is exactly why it needs to be perfect!” His son argued back.

     “Your present should be enough.” Marguerite interjected. Lucas’ hand automatically shot to the pocket of his hoodie to check that the small box was still there. The past week he had nightmares every night of losing it and having to face both the wrath of his mother and also Chrys. Eventually he decided to keep it on him at all times to avoid the risk of it getting misplaced or his girlfriend finding it before the party.

    “What if she doesn’t want it?” Lucas whispered under his breath. While Marguerite was breathing in a breath of sadness, Jack slammed his hand down on the table.

    “Dammit Lucas, she’s gonna want it! How many times do I have to tell you that? You’re over-thinking this and, to be honest, it’s getting to be annoying.”

    “That’s easy for you to say, you’ve already done all this! Y’all just don’t understand!” He screamed at his parents before grabbing his notepad and leaving the kitchen, slamming the door behind him.

    “What are we gonna do with him?” Marguerite pondered out loud for what was probably the hundredth time in her adult life.

   “He’ll be her problem soon enough.” Jack answered before taking a sip of his coffee and returning to reading his paper.

 

A few days later

    After putting a blindfold on her eyes, Lucas guided Chrys through the barn and to his updated party room, which in reality was multiple rooms that he just labelled as one. Bringing her to the puzzle room was not only Lucas’ special way of giving her her present, it was also a distraction from the arrival of guests, like her parents and friends from home, that would be coming for the surprise birthday party. Of course, he had modified the room to eliminate anything that could harm her, unlike previous victims of the room. Where there had once been a clown animatronic sitting at the entrance, there now was only the table he used to sit at with a piece of paper with a clue written on it. Most of the other sections of the party room remained the same, some with slight modifications: a room full of balloons, which one contained a code for a lock; the kitchen with a stove that took an extreme amount of patience to light; and finally the last room with a cake that would explode, although with a different and less dangerous outcome as before, when a lit candle was placed in it and a sprinkler to put out the flame on the candle whenever you entered the room. Once on the other side of the door, Lucas untied the blindfold and pulled it off her eyes.

    “Your party puzzle room? Is this gonna kill me?” She asked with the intention of it being a joke but it came off as more of a serious question.

    “Where’s the trust? It’d be a waste of the present I got you if I killed you." Lucas snickered. "Don't worry, all possible methods of dying have been removed, only safe and harmless puzzles are between you and your present. So get going!” He said as he turned her around to face the opposite direction, then he pointed towards the beaten down kitchen area, “I’ll give ya a hint, you start in there, but don’t forget yer candle.” He held up a wax stick for her to take.

    Lucas stood back and watched as she progressed through the puzzle with very few difficulties. She immediately went to light the stove to have it ready for when she’d need it. Then she crossed over into the balloon room and stopped in the doorway.

    “I don’t have to pop all of these, do I? ‘Cause this’ll be difficult if I have to use just my fingernails to pop them.” She complained.

    “How ‘bout using this needle?” He offered, holding one out to her. He chuckled as he watched her pop each balloon in search of a piece of paper with a password on it. She was halfway through the fifty balloons when she decided to strike up some conversation with him.    

    “You better not be proposing to me as my birthday present, that’d be so lame.” She teased.

    “Now why would I waste a perfectly good birthday present on something like that?” He joked back, at the same time trying to gulp down his nervousness. “Just solve the puzzle and you’ll get your present.”

    “Ooh I’m so excited!” She exclaimed with an underlying hint of sarcasm.

    Five more minutes and she found the paper, unlocked the door at the other side of the room and grabbed the wheel that was hanging on the wall. This wheel would turn off the sprinkler that was in her way of placing the final candle on the cake and solving the puzzle. While she was retrieving it, Lucas snuck away into a secret hidden room near the entrance to get ready to give her her present. When she noticed he was no longer there, Chrys searched around for a minute to find him but quickly realized he was most likely off planning something so she continued on with her quest. After turning off the sprinkler, she returned to the cake room with a lit candle and put it on the cake. Bracing herself for an explosion, she was surprised to see only a piece of paper on a stick rising out of the cake.

    The piece of paper read “Turn around”.

    So she did so slowly.

    And there Lucas was on one knee with a ring box in his hands.

    “I hope it’s not too lame that you don’t say yes.” He said.

    Tears began filling up her eyes and she put her hands over her mouth.

    “No, no it’s not.” She sobbed, now in a blubbery mess.

    “So you’ll marry me?”

    “Oh God, yes! Yes a thousand times over.” She told him as he put the diamond ring on her finger. She pulled him up into a hug and kissed him on his dry lips.

    “I was beginning to think you weren’t ever gonna ask.” She whispered when they pulled apart.

    “I’ve wanted to for so long but then I was so scared and I didn’t know how I could afford a ring. You have my mama to thank for that rock.”

    “This was her’s? The one your dad proposed with?”

    “Yeah, she said she wanted it to make someone else as happy as it once made her.”

    “Well…mission accomplished.”

 

4 Months Later

 

    “Lucas we gotta go now.”  Chrys moaned after feeling another jolt in her stomach. She sat on the bench by the front door, waiting for her fiancé to make his way to her; she had her hand rubbing her enormous belly as if it might calm down the baby who was fighting to get out.

    “I’m coming Babe, I’m coming.”  He said as he rushed down the hall, her purse in his hand. He handed it over to her shaking hand before kneeling down to put her shoes on her swelled feet for her. As he was putting on the second shoe, Celes came running down the hall towards them.

    “Are we coming with you?” The little girl asked Lucas.

    “I’m sorry Hon, but you and your brothers’ll have to sit this one out.” He told her while standing up, he patted her on the head. “Can you go round them all up and head over to your grandparents? “ Despite him and Chrys not being married yet, the kids were already referring to Jack and Marguerite as their grandparents, which Marguerite thought was adorable. “They’re expecting you any minute.” He added.

    “Okay Lucas.” Celes said while taking one last look at her ballooned mother before taking off to find her brothers.

    “Lucas we gotta go.” Chrys repeated, this time with more pain in her voice.

    “Alright, don’t worry Babe, we’ll get there and it’ll be alright.” He tried to calm her down but was sucking at it. “Here, I’ll help you up.”

 

    Seven hours later Chrys was resting and Lucas was on the phone with his mother, his newborn daughter wrapped up in his arms.

    “Wait ‘til you see her Ma, she’s perfect in every way, and she even has my eyes!” He told her excitably over the phone. “Yeah, Chrys is okay, doctor says she might have to stay here for a few more days than normal, but she’s great other than that. Yeah, okay, yeah I’ll send a picture of her to Zoe so she can show you, alright, yeah I’ll keep you updated. Tell the kids I say hi. Alright, bye.”

    He returned the phone to his pocket and brought his attention back to the little bundle in his arms.

    “How'd I get so lucky?” He asked her and received a quiet giggle in response. Lucas’ eyes began to fill up with tears as he thought back to all the times doctors told his parents that he shouldn't have kids and that he’d only be a danger to them, all the times he had insisted that he didn’t even want to raise a child and that’d they only be a burden to him. But now, looking down at his own child, none of that mattered. He had his daughter, his son, his soon-to-be wife and her three other kids that he hoped to adopt in the future; Lucas Baker finally had his happy family and he’d be damned if anyone would take that away from him.

    Wrapped in a pink blanket, the newly brought-into-the-world Bella Baker held onto her father’s thumb as she fell back to sleep for the fifth time since she was born.

 

One week later

 

    Attack hugs and kisses awaited Chrys as she walked in the front door of her home. Her four older children welcomed her and the baby home, along with Jack and Marguerite. After they broke away from her, she hugged each of them individually and told them how excited she was to be back home and amongst them all. When the initial excitement of their mother coming home wore off, everybody’s attention turned towards the baby, who was being carried in by Lucas.

    “Can I hold her? Please? Please?” Celes begged. Lucas looked to Chrys for approval and when he received a nod, he carefully placed Bella into her sister’s arms. The three boys immediately swarmed around her to catch a glimpse of the baby but lost interest as fast as they had gained it and took off into the living room to go back to playing their video games. The adults in the room couldn’t help but laugh at the scene.

    That evening, when the kids were all put to bed, Chrys sat in her chair in the living room breastfeeding Bella. Lucas walked into the room after putting the last child awake, which happened to be Toby, to bed and he plopped himself down onto the brown leather couch across the room from her.

    “Kids all in bed?” She asked him.

    “All of ‘em but you, me and Bella.” He answered, trying to make a joke out of it.

    “I imagine she’ll be ready for bed when she’s done feeding.” And as if she understood what her mother was saying, Bella let go of Chrys and slowly closed her eyes. “Aaand there we go.”  Chrys smiled and then yawned.

     “Can we talk about something?” Lucas asked suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere.

     “Sure Babe, what is it?” His fiancée asked, trying to hide the nervousness in her voice; she had no idea what this ‘talk’ might be about; she knew the phrase “Can we talk” was a dangerous one.

     “Well,” he started, “it’s jus' that I don’t want to be the stepfather of your kids, I wanna be their real father. Well, okay, I know I can’t be their real actual biological father, but I guess what I’m trying t'say is that I’d like to adopt them. That way we could be a real, actual family. I mean, if you want it, it’s fine if you don’t.”

    “You do know they’re already calling you their father, right? They love you Lucas and I think Celes actually trusts you, which is a first, so I don’t see a problem with you adopting them. In fact, I think it’s an amazing idea, although I would suggest you ask the kids first just they know what’s going on.”

    “And you think they’ll all be fine with it?”

    “If they aren’t, I guess I don’t know my children as well as I thought.” She laughed. “Now, get over here and take your daughter before I fall asleep holding her.” She ordered him. Lucas got up from the couch, went over to the two loves of his life, kissed Chrys on the lips (adding in an “I love you”) and took Bella into his arms. The baby woke back up and began squirming in her father’s arms.

    “Hey Baby Girl, you ready for bed? C’mon let’s get some nice warm jammies on ya.” He said as he tickled the small surface of her stomach; He smiled at the sight of her giggling and began to chuckle himself. “Oh my little Bella, I love you.”


	11. Chapter 11

    The temperature in the room seemed to rise with every passing moment and Lucas was getting closer to passing out. The familiar thoughts of ‘I can’t do this’ and ‘I’ll only screw this up’ ran wild in his head as his nerves were being pushed to their limit. His hands fiddled with a clicker pen that his mother had left on the table in front of him in case he wanted to change his speech for the reception before they left the house. He had been stressing over what he would say due to the fact that he wasn’t always the most graceful with words or good at expressing how he felt, unless it was alone with Chrys but even then it scared him. All of a sudden, interrupting his thoughts of panic, his mother was standing at the door with her purse in her hand and arms crossed.

    “Magnolia just called, they’re leaving for the church in a few minutes and- Lucas? Are you listening to me?” She questioned when she noticed that he wasn’t reacting to anything she said to him. Dealing with her son's not needed nervousness throughout the morning had left Marguerite frustrated and ready to get the day’s main event going.

    “Mm-hmm I heard ya.”  He responded emotionlessly, not taking his eyes off the paper on the table with its many crossed-out words and the odd cuss word written in the margins.

    “Then let’s go. Your father and Zoe are already out there in the car.” She informed him before leaving through the doors and going down into the garage across from the kitchen. Slowly, Lucas got up from the table, straightened up the coat of his tux, picked up his phone and the pen and then turned to follow his mother to the car. To his surprise, Zoe was now standing there at the door, looking gorgeous in a red dress.

    “You look good.” She complimented, staring him up and down.

    “Uh, thanks I guess. You do too.”

    “You think so? It’s a bit too fancy for my liking.”

    “You always were more an I-only-wear-clothes-that-I-can-get-mud-on kind of girl.”

    “A fact that I am proud of." She chuckled, then turned more serious. "You know, I’m proud of you too.”

    “What the hell for?”

    “Oh come on you Dum-Dum! You’re a dad now, you’re getting married today, you’re putting your life together after all that happened. Not many people could do what you’re doing after what we’ve been through, especially someone like you.”

    “Hey now, what d’ya mean someone like me?” He snapped defensively.

    “Just take the compliment, Bro.”  She answered with a laugh just as their mother called them once again to leave. Just like they did when they were kids, the two siblings fought to be the one who got to the bottom of the stairs and to the car first; from the driver’s seat, Jack Baker rolled his eyes at his children, yet deep down he was just glad they were all together again.

    Like a real family.

 

    In her parents’ hotel room, Chrys was twirling in front of the bathroom mirror; from the doorway Celes clapped happily at the sight of her mother in her dress.

    “You’re so gorgeous, Mommy!” She said with an overflow of excitement.

    “Nowhere near as much as you Boo.”  She told her daughter, calling her by a long-time nickname, before covering the little girl’s face in kisses and delicately pulling at a brown lock of curly hair.

    “Mama stop! It tickles!” Celes managed to say through laughing.

    “Me ‘oo! ‘Ella ‘ants ticks!” Bella screamed as she came crawling into the bathroom to join her mother and sister. Her short and chubby legs, which were hidden by her little white dress that matched her sister’s, could carry her at a surprisingly fast pace, which no one understood how. The only thing the baby seemed to struggle with (for a child of her age) was forming full words, although Lucas tried to convince everyone that it was simply because she got so excited at times that she just forgot to finish what she was saying. Chrys, on the other hand, believed it to be the result of Bella still being a baby and not needing to have perfected how to talk; her theory was that the baby's fast development was mostly due to because that was how Lucas was as a baby, according to what Marguerite had told her one night while they were going through his baby book and photo albums.

   Zooming past her sister, Bella scurried up to her mother and raised up her arms, begging to be picked up, to which Chrys obliged. When Bella was securely snuggled in her mother’s arms, Chrys began playing with her frilly-white-sock covered toes.

     “We gotta get your shoes on you girl.” Chrys cooed and then looked down at Celes’ own bare feet. “You too Boo, go get your sandals on, we gotta leave soon.”

     “I got them right here.” Magnolia called from the bedroom so Celes ran out to finish getting ready. “We have to leave in a few minutes so finish up what you’re doing in there; your father is already at the church waiting for us and I just called to let Marguerite know we’re leaving in a few minutes. We should probably get there before they do and you can do whatever last minute make-up and touch ups you need done there.”

     Just as her mother finished talking, Chrys’ phone lit up with a text from Zoe saying that they had just left. She picked the phone, and while still holding Bella, she left the bathroom, turning the light off as she went.

    I wonder if he’s as nervous as I am, Chrys thought to herself. At that same exact moment, Lucas was wondering the same about her.

 

    About an hour later at the altar, with Chrys’ brother Jonathan beside him as his best man and Toby on the other side of Jonathan, Lucas was beginning to panic; even with the reassuring nods from his mother he was still scared. At the last minute, the church was still filling up with people, many of who flashed a smiled at him before taking their seats; he answered each one with a half-hearted smile that clearly revealed to everyone how nervous he was. He was looking at Bella, who was being held by Zoe, for comfort when he noticed Celes, the flower girl, standing at the door on the opposite side of the aisle from him, a wide smile on her face that he knew was meant for him. Behind her were the twins in their own miniature tuxes, who were the ring bearers, then Chrys’ maid of honour and another bridesmaid, and then he finally caught sight of her.

    To Lucas, she looked nothing less than perfect. With her father escorting her, she nonchalantly made her way down the aisle, smiling at everyone as she passed them. Her hair was up in a thin braid crown, a flower crown embedded on the inside of it along with her veil, with a side ponytail that was curled into perfect ringlets hanging down over her shoulder. Her dress was a simplified ball gown with a beaded heart shaped strapless top; out of the three wedding dresses she had worn in her life, this one was her favourite. It was simple yet made an amazing display of her best features; for Lucas, he couldn’t imagine anything more beautiful.

    After what seemed like a million year walk for the both of them, she reached the altar and immediately noticed the tear falling down her husband-to-be’s cheek.

    “You’re so beautiful.” He whispered to her when they were finally face to face. Almost forgetting what was going on but quickly reminding himself, Lucas turned his attention to Sam who was extending his hand out to Lucas. He took it and they shook for a moment before Sam placed his daughter’s hand into Lucas’.

    “Now don’t you let her go, you hear me? You two better love each other for the rest of your lives; she’s had enough heartbreak for a lifetime.” He told him, never breaking eye contact.

    “I won’t sir, I won’t ever let her go.” Lucas answered, feeling a bit intimidated by his father-in-law-to-be. Sam gave him a pat on the back, kissed Chrys on the cheek, told her he loved her and went to join his wife in a church pew.

    “Ready?” Chrys asked.

    “Ready.” Lucas responded, putting everything out of his mind but her.

    And all the nervousness and fear he felt that morning had disappeared.

 

    From that moment the months passed and the newlywed couple managed to get their lives started and running smoothly. Lucas began working as an electrician while Chrys stayed home to look after the kids, a system that worked well for their family.  With the help of his parents, they raised their children, all five of them, to the best of their ability; Chrys enjoyed the happy atmosphere that she hadn’t felt in so long while Lucas was beginning to realize that he finally had all he ever really needed in life. Even though there were some doubts about Lucas being safe around the children, Chrys was constantly reassuring Jack and Marguerite that there was nothing to worry about. Nobody could argue that Lucas had never been happier since he and Chrys got married and she brought children into his life.

    Lucas loved watching Bella grow up and learn new things, from saying her first word (Papa: what she called Jack) to the day she started to walk on her own:

    “Chrys, you got your phone on you?” Lucas called from the living room.

    “Yeah, why?” She asked from the kitchen.

    “Stay there and open up your camera.” He instructed, excitement flowing in his voice.

    “Okay, it’s ready.”

    “Alright, we’re coming.”

    And sure enough, with the camera capturing the moment, Lucas came into the kitchen with Bella in front of him. She was walking on her own.

    “Oh my gosh!” Chrys shrieked at the sight of her daughter on her own two feet. It seemed like every day there was another thing their little girl was capable of doing. He smiled like a proud father as he watched her speed up to a trot over to her mother, proclaiming a “Mommy!” when she reached her.

    “She’s a genius, our little princess.” He said nodding towards Bella after they had returned to the living room; she was playing with his old toy blocks on the floor.

    “If she’s anything like her father she will be. How did she start walking?”

    “We were just playing and I was holding ‘er up, you know, helping ‘er stand and she started trying t'walk. At first I got up and walked with her, holding her hands of course, but then she kinda started to pull her hands away so I let her go, still keeping close in case she fell, and then she was just walking on 'er own. I didn’t think a kid her age could be so…advanced, I guess you could say.”

    “Stranger things have probably happened.” Chrys offered and then  the husband and his wife burst out into laughter. Once Bella heard them, although she didn’t understand why they were laughing, she began to giggle with them. At that moment Toby entered the room with a confused look on his face.

    “What are y’all laughing about?” He asked in a weak drawl that he was picking up from his father. Bella seemed to be the only one who could answer him.

    “Fun-eee!” She squealed and clapped her hands together.

 

Five months later

    “There y’all are.” Lucas said from the doorway. Chrys, who was now four months pregnant, turned to see him standing there.

    “Sleep well Hon?” She asked.

    “Yeah, s’not everyday I get to sleep in ‘til noon, but I was kinda confused when I came downstairs to no one anywhere in the house. I finally heard one of the boys yelling out here.”

    “That’d be Thorin. I figured I’d let you sleep in, you looked so happy to be asleep.”

    “Happy?”

    “You were literally smiling, with teeth too.” She laughed and then turned back to watch the kids when one of them let out another ‘play battle’ cry.

    Lucas stepped out the back door and made his way over to his wife. He stood there behind her on the back porch with his arms wrapped around her with one hand protecting the baby that was growing inside her. Their would-be son, which they would name Evan, reacted to his father’s touch by kicking and squirming in his mother’s womb. The movement hurt Chrys but the pain quickly subsided when Lucas moved his hand off of her stomach and onto her hip. The two looked out on their children playing in the yard, chasing after each other with water guns. It was the twins versus Toby and Celes while Bella kept switching teams, when she wasn’t running around and shooting any of her siblings as if she was on a team all by herself. Chrys looked up at her husband and he smiled back down at her. Despite everything they had been through, they both knew they ended up where they needed to be.

    And this time he wasn’t letting her go.

 

THE END


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